ELECTION RESULTS FOR 2007
Two new justices were elected to the Supreme Court this fall: Democrats Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd, both judges on the Superior Court, won the election, defeating Republicans Maureen Lally-Green, also a Superior Court judge, and Mike Krancer, former Chief Judge of the Environmental Hearing Board.
The four – Democrats Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd and Republicans Mike Krancer and Maureen Lally-Green -- for two open seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court raised a combined total of $6,855,770. Each candidate raised well over one million dollars. When in-kind donations are factored in, the total increases by almost one million dollars. To read more in-depth analysis of the finances of the recent Supreme Court election, click here and visit the Institute for Money in State Politics.
Superior Court Elections
Elections also were held to fill three vacancies on the Superior Court created by the mandatory retirement of Judge John Hudock, the retirement of President Judge Joseph A. Del Sole, and the decision by Judge Michael Joyce not to seek retention. Winning the election were Republicans Cheryl Allen, an Allegheny County judge, and Jacqueline Shogan, an Allegheny County attorney; and democrat Christine Donahue, also of Allegheny County.
To view results for other counties, visit the State Department's Election Results page.
PMC prepared a chart outlining information voters need in order to make informed decisions about judges standing for retention and identifying resources that can provide such information.
Seven appellate judges stood for retention in 2007: Supreme Court Justice Thomas Saylor; Superior Court Judges John Musmanno, Correale Stevens and Joan Orie Melvin; and Commonwealth Court Judges Doris Smith-Ribner, Bernard McGinley and Bonnie Leadbetter. all were retained. Fifty-nine of the sixty local court judges standing for retention also were retained.
Retention elections, traditionally quite nonevents in Pennsylvania, have been getting much more attention since 2005 when for the first time a Pennsylvania appellate judge -- Supreme Court Justice Nigro -- failed to win retention. PMC authored a commentary piece about the 2005 retention elections: Lessons from an Unusual Retention Election (Court Review, vol. 42, Issues 3-4, Fall/Winter 2006).
Click here to learn more about PMC's efforts to educate the public about judicial candidates in 2007.
