CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — (Photos to add: PAPU501-502. Use this order: YES to Hold Sign (Pending), NO to Hold Sign (Link), Supreme Court Door File Photo (Link), Exterior of O’Connor Elections Office (Pending), Tony Moreno (Pending))
Control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unbalanced A statewide election will be held next week in which voters will cast their votes for justices on the state’s three highest courts. Voters across the Commonwealth will also vote in local elections, including high-profile races in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
State Supreme Court Justices Christine Donahue, Kevin Dougherty and David Vecht, all Democrats, will be on the Nov. 4 retention election, when voters will decide whether to give the incumbent justices a new term on the high court. Although his term is 10 years, Mr. Donahue must retire in 2027, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75. Remain elections are often quiet events in Pennsylvania, but party politics played a big role in this year’s race.
Democrats hold a 5-2 majority on the state Supreme Court, but Republicans are campaigning to expel Donahue, Dougherty and Vecht. If voters decide not to seek another term for the judge, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro could appoint a temporary replacement, subject to confirmation by the Republican-controlled state Senate. If voters remove all three justices this year, the confirmation process could stall and the court could end up in a 2-2 tie. Elections to fill the 10-year vacancy are scheduled to be held in 2027.
The last state Supreme Court renewal election was in 2017, when a Republican judge was retained with 68% of the vote and a Democratic judge was retained with 71% of the vote.
Voters will also decide elections to other state courts, including the state Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court, which are statewide appellate courts one step below the state Supreme Court.
Democratic Allegheny County Governor Corey O’Connor and Republican Tony Moreno are running to replace retiring Democratic incumbent Ed Gainey in the Pittsburgh mayoral race. Mr. O’Connor is a former Pittsburgh City Councilman and son of the late Mayor Bob O’Connor. He defeated Gainey in the May primary.. Moreno, a former police officer, was a Republican mayoral candidate in 2021, but lost to Gainey in the general election.
In Philadelphia, Democrat Larry Krasner is seeking re-election for a third term as district attorney against former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan. Dugan resigned midway through his third term in 2024 to challenge Krasner for the Democratic nomination. krasner He defeated Dugan in the May primary.However, Dugan switched parties in August to run in the general election as a Republican.
In the recent general election, Democrats won both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia by large margins. Gainey defeated Moreno in the 2021 Pittsburgh mayoral race with about 71% of the vote. In Philadelphia, Krasner was re-elected for a second term in 2021 with about 72% of the vote.
The Associated Press does not make predictions and will only declare a winner if there is no scenario in which a successor candidate closes the gap. Even if a race is not called, The Associated Press will continue to report on newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. At that time, The Associated Press will clarify that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
Pennsylvania requires automatic recounts in statewide elections where the difference in votes is less than 0.5 percentage points. In non-statewide elections, voters can petition individual county election boards or the courts for a recount order. The Associated Press may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if the lead is determined to be too large to change the result through a recount or legal challenge.
Let’s see what happens on November 4th.
When does voting close?
Voting ends at 8pm ET.
What does the ballot say?
The Associated Press announces the results and declares the winners of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court retention elections, as well as the general elections for Superior Court, Commonwealth Court, Pittsburgh Mayor, Philadelphia District Attorney, and Philadelphia Controller.
Who can vote?
Any registered voter in Pennsylvania can participate in the statewide general election. Voters registered in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh can participate in that city’s general election.
What will turnout and early voting look like?
As of October 6, there are approximately 3.8 million registered Democrats and 3.6 million registered Republicans in Pennsylvania. In Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located, Democrats made up nearly 55% of the county’s 912,000 registered voters, while Republicans made up about 29%. Democrats made up about 72% of Philadelphia’s roughly 1.1 million registered voters. Republicans accounted for about 12%.
Nearly 71,000 people voted in the 2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election, representing about 31% of registered voters at the time. Mail-in ballots accounted for about 35% of the total votes cast. Approximately 230,000 people voted in Philadelphia’s general election that year, or about 22% of registered voters. About 32% of the votes were by mail.
Approximately 3.1 million votes were cast in the 2023 state Supreme Court general election, representing about 36% of registered voters at the time. Mail-in ballots accounted for about 26% of the total votes cast.
As of Friday, more than 524,000 of the 1.1 million absentee ballots requested across the state had already been cast. About 62% of those votes went to Democrats and about 26% to Republicans. See AP early voting tracker For the latest updates.
In Pittsburgh, as of Oct. 10, about 5,400 votes had been cast before Election Day. About 86% of those votes went to Democrats and about 9% to Republicans.
How long does it usually take to count votes?
In the 2024 presidential election, the Associated Press first reported Pennsylvania’s results at 8:00 p.m. ET in Allegheny County, just after voting closed. Initial results in Philadelphia were reported at 8:08 p.m. ET. By 12pm ET the next day, nearly 97% of the statewide vote totals had been counted.
That night’s vote count ended in Allegheny County at 12:08 a.m. ET with about 97% of votes counted, and in Philadelphia at 1:56 a.m. ET with about 93% of votes counted.
Have you arrived yet?
As of November 4, there are 364 days until the 2026 midterm elections and 1,099 days until the 2028 general election.
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Associated Press writer Mark Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the 2025 election. https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2025/.
