Three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices—Christine Donohue (D), Kevin M. Dougherty (D), and David N. Wecht (D)—are up for retention elections on November 4, 2025.

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,” and Pennsylvania Capital-Star’s Peter Hall wrote the elections’ outcome “could determine which party has an advantage in Congress and the state legislature through redistricting and direct the outcome of cases that involve reproductive rights, voting rights and state policies such as marijuana legalization.”

The state court has a 5-2 Democratic majority. Pennsylvania uses partisan elections to select a justice for an initial 10-year term, and uses a retention election to determine whether to keep them. If a justice is retained, they will serve another 10-year term. If a justice is not retained, the governor, with approval from two-thirds of the Pennsylvania Senate, can appoint a temporary replacement until the next odd year, when an election would be held for a permanent replacement.

According to Pennsylvania’s Code of Judicial Conduct, justices are limited in their ability to campaign. However, different groups have supported or opposed the justices based on specific cases. The Pennsylvania chapter of Planned Parenthood’s chair, Signe Espionza, has supported the justices, citing their rulings on abortion as being the reason to keep them on the court. Conservative activist Scott Pressler opposed retaining the justices, citing the court’s ruling on COVID-19 restrictions and vote-by-mail policies, which he said were overreach. Additionally, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Republican State Leadership Committee have said they intend to invest in these races.

Since retention elections were established in 1968, only one justice, Russell Nigro (D) in 2005, has not been retained.