The Most Important Election No One’s Talking About

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court election - three Supreme Court races, in fact - is the most important election no one outside of Pennsylvania is talking about. Yet these judicial races have far-reaching implications, not just for the next two years, but for the next two decades. 

Election integrity is a state issue: election matters regularly came before the court over the past decade since Justices Dougherty, Donohue, and Wecht were elected, and they will come before the court again. So, the outcome of next week’s election could determine the outcomes of the 2026 midterms, 2028 presidential election, and 2030 census and redistricting: importantly, shaping the next decade of congressional politics and congressional oversight - or lack thereof - over the federal judiciary. 

The stakes could not be higher. If you’re concerned about federal overreach, creeping autocracy, and whether we’ll have free and fair elections in 2026 and 2028, state supreme courts are one of the most important backstops for democracy. Election integrity is state issue: challenges to voting provisions, such as mail-in ballots, drop boxes, signature mismatch, voter ID, and ballot curing and provisional ballots, just to name a few, will come before the court again. 

What happens if the justices are not retained? Pennsylvania currently has a 5-2 majority Democrat Supreme Court. If three justices aren’t retained, the court will remain 2-2 until at least 2027. The court’s work, and justice, will grind to a halt. That’s because, while the state’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, can appoint new nominees, they need to be confirmed by the Senate. Pennsylvania’s Republican-held Senate, which has refused to pass a state budget for more than 100 days to prevent Democratic strongholds from receiving public transportation funding, will not confirm those nominees. 

Slow justice is no justice. As we’ve observed in the federal courts since the government shutdown in early October 2025, we can expect similar, magnified effects if Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court loses three of its seven justices for two whole years. 

At a time when democracy is under threat, if you live in Pennsylvania, casting your ballot is a small but consequential way to ensure state courts can continue serving as a backstop of democracy and a bulwark against autocracy.