PA supreme court now 5-2 majority Democrat

[angus]

I did not see a topic yet.  Apologies if it already exists.

The big news from yesterday's PA election is that three Democrats won all three open seats on the state supreme court.  There have not been three open seats at once since Pennsylvanians were subjects of King George III of England, so it was quite a newsmaker.  At least for the 21% of those eligible voters who turned out to vote. 

Lancaster news reports that "Democrats have won all three open seats on Pennsylvania's Supreme Court. The victory secures them a majority on the high court for at least a decade, after a campaign that drew a record $11.5 million in contributions.

The winners in Tuesday's election are Philadelphia Judge Kevin Dougherty and Superior Court judges David Wecht and Christine Donohue of Allegheny County.

...

When the new justices take their oaths in January, they will round out a 5-2 Democratic majority on the court. That could help shape the legislative redistricting that follows the 2020 census.  Democrats also Tuesday won two other appellate court races — seats on the Commonwealth Court and on the Superior Court."

Full results for Lancaster County can be found here.

[Nyvin]

Even though this was the only real big victory for Democrats last night....it will be the longest lasting victory in the biggest state up for grabs for either side.

[YaBoyNY]

Beautiful. Another freedom decision by a great freedom state.

[angus]

A follow-up:  The Atlantic reports that the recent PA supreme court race was the most expensive in US history.  

"Pennsylvania’s political landscape looks a bit more favorable to Democrats after a three-for-three sweep in the Supreme Court election last week, giving the party a 5-2 advantage on the panel—a sharp turn to the left for a court that has been primarily controlled by Republicans for decades. But beyond the implications for party politics in the commonwealth, it’s the highly politicized and vicious nature of the election that’s raising eyebrows.

The race topped the record for the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history, coming out at about $15.8 million—a tally likely to rise as final numbers are calculated..."

We have long accepted that our legislative and executive government seats are for sale to the highest bidder.  Now, it seems, that at least in some jurisdictions, the judiciary is on sale as well.

"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which antedates the United States Supreme Court, was once one of the most respected state-level courts in the country. It could strike down Pennsylvania’s laws long before Marbury v. Madison established the power of judicial review at the federal level. But by the late 1970s... it had become highly politicized and ideological as a result of competitive and nasty election cycles."

[Bojack Horseman]

This is huge, and is frankly what the path back to national relevancy looks like across the country. Democrats need to go on the offensive in as many states as possible, to gain as much power in redistricting as possible even in spite of the current gerrymandering. Taking back individual state legislative chambers, heck, even just governorships and seats on state Supreme Courts are how we'll begin winning again. Democratic governors need to make it clear in the next Census that they will veto any map that is not drawn fairly, and that we're willing to make this as ugly as it needs to be to accomplish the goal of fair districts.

[angus]

in spite of the current gerrymandering.

It is true that gerrymandering is extreme in Pennsylvania.  My own district is bad enough, but check out the adjacent district just east of mine (well, East in some parts, but North, South, or West in other parts): 




But to be fair, our neighbors on the other side of the Mason-Dixon line are just as gerried, and they have a Democrat legislature.  For example, have a look at MD-3:

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

in spite of the current gerrymandering.

It is true that gerrymandering is extreme in Pennsylvania.  My own district is bad enough, but check out the adjacent district just east of mine (well, East in some parts, but North, South, or West in other parts):  

Don't mock my district, angus. I'm proud to be a part of that Republican octopus! 2nd best district in the state.

Isn't the Internet wonderful? Some guy in Lancaster semi-anonymously talks trash about our district. In Newtown Square, Kennett Square and parts of Thorndale, we have two words for that: Who cares?

(My love of it comes from not being in Chaka Fattah's district, which would obviously be my alternative. )

[angus]

Bahhahaha!  I laugh (semi-anonymously) at your strangely-shaped district!  It could have been inspired by a Rorschach test taken by a methhead on LSD. 

But you have to admit that MD-3 is pretty impressive as well.

[Brittain33]

But you have to admit that MD-3 is pretty impressive as well.

Maryland is in contention for the worst gerrymander in the country. The problem for Dems this deciade is that like 8-9 of the top 10 are drawn by Republicans, many in larger states than MD.

[Bojack Horseman]

in spite of the current gerrymandering.

But to be fair, our neighbors on the other side of the Mason-Dixon line are just as gerried, and they have a Democrat legislature.  For example, have a look at MD-3:

Quite honestly, what happened in Maryland was pure schadenfreude for the Republicans. As Republicans were gerrymandering their way to a permanent House majority, Martin O'Malley basically said, "I can do that too!" and drew Roscoe Bartlett out of office as a way of saying, "How do you like it?"

Now I'm against gerrymandering altogether, but barring a constitutional amendment or a concerted effort in all 50 states-much the same as the term limits movement did in the early 1990's-it's never going to happen. I think we should do what Canada does, where a nonpartisan board draws all the districts nationwide and power shifts as political attitudes shift.

Now frankly, gerrymandering isn't as bad in states where even if the districts were drawn neutrally, you'd still get the same result. Case in point, Alabama. Democrats might serve to pick up one House seat if the Republican legislature didn't get to draw the seats, but the legislature would still be heavily Republican. Same with California, only the opposite-it's still overwhelmingly Democratic in spite of an independent redistricting commission.

However the problem with gerrymandering is that in many states, one election can permanently end the voters' ability to change their political leaders. Here in Michigan, Republicans took over the state legislature in 1982, and never looked back. Despite the fact that we're a blue state, Republicans have drawn their way to permanent power, and the only way we'll ever give our state back to the voters is an independent redistricting commission. In last year's election, Democratic candidates received the majority of votes in state Senate elections statewide, but Republicans actually gained seats and the Senate is now 71% Republican.

[Gass3268]

The problem with Maryland is it doesn't even have to be this ugly. They could even draw 9-0 map that is cleaner than the current one. The problem is that each of the incumbents wanted different areas in their districts that were nowhere near their home turf (Hoyer wanted College Park / Sarbanes wanted Annapolis, a part of the DC Metro, and his base in the Baltimore area / Ruppersberger wanted the Aberdeen Proving Ground) and the legislature abided to their wants.

[MT Treasurer]

I just did a quick map for the Judge of the Superior Court race (the map for the Judge of the Commonwealth Court race is almost identical):

Alice B. Dubow (DEM): 1,055,327 (53.12%)
Emil Giordano (REP): 931,383 (46.88%)



It's really shocking that Democrats lost Delaware County. All in all, they underperformed in the Philadelphia suburbs (almost losing Bucks and Berks County as well), but what did the GOP in was the Democrats' strength in the Western part of the state (especially Allegheny County) and low turnout in the Republican counties which wasn't enough to offset Philadelphia (where Democrats got 87% of the vote).

[windjammer]

I just did a quick map for the Judge of the Superior Court race (the map for the Judge of the Commonwealth Court race is almost identical):

Alice B. Dubow (DEM): 1,055,327 (53.12%)
Emil Giordano (REP): 931,383 (46.88%)



It's really shocking that Democrats lost Delaware County. All in all, they underperformed in the Philadelphia suburbs (almost losing Bucks and Berks County as well), but what did the GOP in was the Democrats' strength in the Western part of the state (especially Allegheny County) and low turnout in the Republican counties which wasn't enough to offset Philadelphia (where Democrats got 87% of the vote).

Well, after some search, I believe I have a decent explanation:
-Emil Giordano is a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County since 2003. That's why he carried Northampton County. Honestly I was quite surprised because Northampton County never was particularly republican in the past. This county backed every gubernational winner for quite a long time.
-In West Pennsylvania, when you compare your map with the  Pennsylvania gubernational election, there are only 2 counties who voted for Dubow and Corbett. That's not particularly off. I guess the reason is that locally democrats overperformed in West Pennsylvania (while at the same Republicans overperformed in the Philadelphia suburbs).

[TJ in Oregon]

I just did a quick map for the Judge of the Superior Court race (the map for the Judge of the Commonwealth Court race is almost identical):

Alice B. Dubow (DEM): 1,055,327 (53.12%)
Emil Giordano (REP): 931,383 (46.88%)



It's really shocking that Democrats lost Delaware County. All in all, they underperformed in the Philadelphia suburbs (almost losing Bucks and Berks County as well), but what did the GOP in was the Democrats' strength in the Western part of the state (especially Allegheny County) and low turnout in the Republican counties which wasn't enough to offset Philadelphia (where Democrats got 87% of the vote).

Well, after some search, I believe I have a decent explanation:
-Emil Giordano is a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County since 2003. That's why he carried Northampton County. Honestly I was quite surprised because Northampton County never was particularly republican in the past. This county backed every gubernational winner for quite a long time.
-In West Pennsylvania, when you compare your map with the  Pennsylvania gubernational election, there are only 2 counties who voted for Dubow and Corbett. That's not particularly off. I guess the reason is that locally democrats overperformed in West Pennsylvania (while at the same Republicans overperformed in the Philadelphia suburbs).

Giordano being from Northampton County would explain why he won the Lehigh Valley including Lehigh County, which is about two points more D than PA as a whole. Seeing the Dem win Berks and lose Lehigh is rather bizarre, as is seeing the Dem win Bucks and lose Delaware.

In the west, Cambria and Elk went Dem, and those two are blue-collar counties that have been stampeding right the last couple cycles on the Presidential level. The same with the counties in the SW corner. The comparison to 2014 should be taken with a grain of salt because Corbett was incredibly unpopular and these candidates are presumably pretty generic to most of the voters.

All in all it looks like the election was more class-based than usual. The Dems won all of the blue collar places they've been bleeding lately. It could be that these counties have only switched allegiance at the top of the ticket and still vote Dem downballot. This trend holds pretty much everywhere except the Lehigh Valley where they had a favorite son.

[Vega]

I think wacky turnout was the main factor for these races looking like they did, definitely not any long term trend.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It does continue the trend of Bucks voting more Republican than the state as a whole by 2 to 4 points. This was evident in 2012 and a couple of other recent elections as well, whereas in the Bush years it was even with or more Democratic then the state as whole like in 2000 and 2004 respectively.