Mahika Ralhan ’26
On November 7, 2023, the race to win a spot on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded when Democratic candidate, Daniel McCaffery, won with 57% percent of the votes compared to Republican Carolyn Carluccio’s 43%.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is the highest court in the state, composed of seven judges who make decisions on a wide variety of legal cases and oversee the judicial system. The races are similar to elections for a political office and candidates run under a party; however, their campaign rules are much stricter. Judges serve 10-year terms and face statewide re-election, where they are either retained or rejected from office. While there is no limit to the number of terms a judge can serve, they must retire at the age of 75.
David Mercante, Upper School History Teacher, explains the significant role of local government. Saying, “Your local government includes school board, township commissioners, and county commissioners. I think it’s often overlooked by a lot of people when they think about government. But, the township and county level, that’s where the rubber meets the road in terms of many of your interactions with the actual government are going to be at that level. Things like the quality of your schools, the roads that you drive on, sidewalks, public parks, that’s all local government.” Ryann Newcomb ’26 adds, “Local governments are important because they create laws for the community and keep things organized on a smaller scale.”
Photo courtesy of politicspa.com
Mercante explains that the state Supreme Court is essential to what the current government in Pennsylvania looks like today. He explains, “Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states where we elect state judges. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has made a lot of important decisions over the past ten years or so, including, on two different occasions, they’ve redrawn the maps that we use for elections here in Pennsylvania for state representatives and state senators. And so, what the government in Pennsylvania looks like today would be completely different if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court hadn’t made different decisions over the last few years.”
According to Spotlight PA, due to the passing of Chief Justice Democrat Max Baer in 2022, a vacant spot opened up on the court. Two candidates were vying for the spot: Democratic candidate Daniel McCaffery and Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio. In the end, McCaffery won 57% of the votes. His addition to the court will strengthen Democratic control, with the party having a 5-2 majority.
Mercante explains that these results do not have a major impact on the party majority in the court. He states, “Before this election, the judge who passed away was a Democratic-leaning judge. The result of this election is that another Democratic-leaning judge was elected, so the makeup of the court didn’t change as a result of this election, and even if the result of the election had gone differently, Democratic judges still would have made up the majority on the state Supreme Court.” In upcoming elections, Republican judges would have to win most of the seats for the court to switch from Democratic control to Republican control. Mercante says, “So in that sense, the election we just had didn’t do anything immediately by itself but looking forward two or three years down the road, it could be a pretty important election in terms of helping Democrats maintain control of the court and making it harder for Republicans to gain control of the court.”