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Election in United States of America - voting at the ballot box. The hand of woman putting her vote in the ballot box. Flag of USA on background.
This Tuesday, November 4, political reporters will be paying close attention to gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virigina as well as New York City's mayoral race — which progressive New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, is expected to win.
Meanwhile, in the Keystone State, voters will be voting to either retain or reject three Democratic justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Kevin M. Dougherty, Christine Donahue and David N. Wecht. Also in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia voters will decide whether or not to give progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner a third term.
MSNBC's Ali Velshi, during a Sunday, November 2 broadcast, discussed the importance of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention races with Kate A. Shaw — a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and co-host of the "Strict Scrutiny" podcast.
"There are five Democratic and two Republican justices," Shaw explained. "If the retention votes fail for the three Democrats on the ballot, then the court would be tied 2-2. And as you said, it's, in theory, possible for the Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, to appoint temporary replacements, but the (Pennsylvania) State Senate would have to confirm them."
Shaw emphasized that the fate of Dougherty, Donahue and Wecht on November 4 has strong national implications, as Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state. Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices are elected to ten-year terms.
"For the citizens of Pennsylvania, this court is going to be the body that decides critical questions, whether we're talking about right to abortion, reproductive rights — more broadly, election law and voting rights, the rights of workers and unions," Shaw told Velshi. "So, you know, the list is very long…. This state supreme court will provide the final answer for citizens of the state of Pennsylvania. But, of course, Pennsylvania is also, as you said in the introduction, the most populous of the battleground states."
Shaw continued, "It has the most electoral votes. So, if we're talking about a presidential election year, it's critically important. But it also has a big congressional delegation. So whether we're talking about the midterm elections in 2026 — where obviously, control of the (U.S.) House (of Representatives) will be at stake — or the presidential elections in 2028, Pennsylvania matters a lot to the whole country. And we have seen a ton of litigation around access to the ballot in Pennsylvania around critical national elections…. Pennsylvania was, in many ways, Ground Zero for the effort to challenge access to voting, in particular voting by mail in the 2020 election."