In the 2025 elections, while much attention is focused on the top statewide offices, such as governor or attorney general, these are not the only statewide offices up for election in 2025. Other states will be holding elections for various statewide offices, including those for state supreme court and public service commission. Here is a brief look at those elections.
State Supreme Court
In Pennsylvania, three Democratic justices —Christine Donohue, Kevin M. Dougherty, and David N. Wecht —are up for a retention vote.
WHYY’s Carmen Russell-Sluchansky wrote, “State judicial elections typically garner little attention, but Pennsylvania’s 2025 state Supreme Court races are shaping up to be the next major political battleground.”
The state court has a 5-2 Democratic majority, and has had a majority since these three justices won their first election in 2015. If voters do not retain a justice, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), with approval from two-thirds of the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate, can appoint a temporary replacement until 2027, when an election would be held for a permanent replacement.
If all three justices are not retained and the Senate does not approve Shapiro’s nominees, the court would be split with two liberals and two conservatives, which The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Gillian McGoldrick wrote could leave the court “unlikely to reach majority decisions and could weaken the voice of Pennsylvania’s top court going into the 2028 presidential election, when the swing state could decide the next president yet again.”
Both the Democratic and Republican parties have been involved in this race, with the Republican State Leadership Committee running ads on social media asking voters to vote against retaining the justices, the Democratic National Committee investing six figures in the final weeks of the race, and Democratic politicians including Gov, Josh Shapiro (D), Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D) campaigning in favor of retention.
The only Pennsylvania justice to lose a retention election was Russell Nigro (D) in 2005.
Public Service Commission
In Georgia, the state’s public service commission is holding its first election in three years following lawsuits over the election’s use of districts for statewide voting.
The commission regulates the state’s utility services, such as electricity, phones, and gas. While the position is elected statewide, candidates must live in the district they are running in.
Candidates are running in two districts. Incumbent Tim Echols (R) and Alicia Johnson (D) are running in the Athens and Savannah-based 2nd District, while incumbent Fitz Johnson (R) and Peter Hubbard (D) are running in the Atlanta-metro-based 3rd District. Echols was first elected in 2010, and Johnson works as a nurse. Governor Brian Kemp (R) appointed Johnson to the commission in 2021, and Hubbard works in renewable energy development.
Bolts Magazine‘s Camille Squires wrote that turnout from other down-ballot elections could help Democrats: “turnout may be helped by the fact that there will be municipal elections on the ballot in some places, including the mayoral race in Atlanta… [the Democratic candidates] will need very heavy support in the Atlanta region.” University of Georgia Prof. Charles Bullock says that Republicans will have the advantage of incumbency and partisan dynamics: “Georgia is still more Republican than Democratic… It also helps that once we get to the general election ballot, it’ll have the ‘I’ beside their name, indicating they are the incumbents.”
To read more about state supreme court elections in 2025, click here. To read more about statewide downballot elections in 2025, click here.