Party control of Pennsylvania's high court up for grabs
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court race on Tuesday hasn’t attracted as much attention as the mayoral contest in Philadelphia.
But the judicial primary, fueled by cash earned from unions and teddy bears, will shape the state’s highest court for a decade or more.
The primary will halve the pool of 12 judges aspiring to fill one of three seats, the most up for grabs in the court’s history. Then the top three vote getters from each party will compete in the November election. At stake: control of the seven-member court, which currently has a Republican majority.
The effects will be long term as those winners will keep their seats for 10 years, then run unopposed in non-partisan retention elections. Pennsylvania is among 22 states that popularly elect the highest court judges. It is one of just eight states, though, to elect its top judges in overtly partisan primaries.
Related: 'Dougherty his black robe'
Only one candidate, Republican Correale Stevens, is currently on the Supreme Court. Former Gov. Tom Corbett appointed him to fill a vacancy in 2013. The rest are judges from around the state.
Here are 13 things to know about the money behind the candidates:
Sources: Center for Public Integrity analysis of data from media tracking firm Kantar Media/CMAG, Pennsylvania campaign finance reports, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Related: 13 things to know about Pennsylvania's May 19 Supreme Court primary
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This story is part of Who’s Calling the Shots in State Politics?. The Center exposes the powerful special interests that drive elections and policy in the states. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
