Pennsylvania, Wisconsin in the spotlight with high-stakes court elections

Big spending expected from outside groups

In Pennsylvania, November’s general election will feature three Democrats running to retain their seats, putting Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the line. All three justices — Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht — face a “yes” or “no” vote to win another 10-year term.

Pending in Pennsylvania courts are cases that challenge laws limiting the use of Medicaid to cover the cost of abortions and requiring certain mail-in ballots to be disqualified.

In 2023, business associations, political party campaign arms, Planned Parenthood, partisan advocacy groups, labor unions, lawyers’ groups, environmental organizations and wealthy GOP donors, including Richard Uihlein and Jeffrey Yass, pushed spending above $70 million in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The Wisconsin race alone topped $51 million, breaking national records for spending on a judicial race.

Abortion rights were the dominant theme in that contest, won by a Democratic-backed judge whose victory gave liberals majority control of the court for the first time in 15 years.

Wisconsin’s race this year is expected to cost even more, with the two candidates already raising more than was brought in at this point in 2023.

Schimel, in an interview last year on WISN-AM, said outside groups “are committed to making sure we take back the majority on this court” and that he was confident “we’re going to have the money to do the things we have to do to win this.”

He recently launched a $1.1 million television ad buy statewide, marking the first spending on TV ads in the race. Crawford went on the air a week later.

Spending exceeded $22 million in Pennsylvania’s 2023 contest won by the Democrat, whose campaign focused on attackingrulings by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority.