The votes have been cast, and the results announced for most of Pennsylvania’s 2025 municipal election. But political parties are still wrestling with the takeaway lessons of Tuesday.
Democrats won all seven statewide judicial races. A seat on the Commonwealth Court and a seat on the Superior Court both went to Democrats. Retention votes for a Superior Court justice and Commonwealth Court justice both going to judges initially elected as Democrats— who will now get a second 10 year term on the bench.
Lastly, all three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices won their retention races with 61% of the vote. Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht were elected to the bench as Democrats in 2015.
There was a 6% difference between the justice candidates in the partisan races versus the justices up for retention.
At least $15 million was spent on retention race campaigning, if not more.
“I think Democrats and their messaging had a pretty consistent message,” said Berwood Yost, politics director at Franklin & Marshall College. ” I’m not sure that the Republicans settled on a consistent message about why they shouldn’t be retained.”
Beyond the statewide judicial wins, Democrats saw a sweep of victories for local officials in suburban areas and bell weather counties. For example— Democrats ousted Republican incumbents in five county wide positions in the purple Bucks County.
The Republican county executive for Erie lost to Democrat Christina Vogel—and other county wide seats stayed in Democratic control. Yost says economy was on the mind for many voters, though local niche issues also play a role in municipal elections.
“Across the country, these concerns about inflation and affordability were top of mind,” Yost said. “It provided a consistent theme, and I think that helped Democrats this time around.”
Yost cautions that no two elections are the same, with the potential for unique context a year from now that changes how voters go into the polls. Yost says the victory has energized Democrats—but both parties have a year to tweak their strategies for the 2026 midterms.
Eugene DePasquale, chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said Democrats won because “voters were sick and tired of the division and chaos coming out of Washington DC.”
Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Greg Rothman released a statement saying the party needed to do better communicating their future vision and core principles of prospertiy, security, and opportunity.
“Today is the first day of the 2026 campaign, and we are getting back to work,” Rothman said in the statement.
The election results can bring immediate impact to the ongoing federal shutdown.
“This applies pressure to Republicans. I mean, how could it not?” Yost said. “Some nationwide Republicans are saying ‘oh, its not a big deal. New Jersey and Virginia are blue states anyways’. Well they didn’t do well in Pennsylvania, and that should encourage action.”
State lawmakers may also feel the pressure as Pennsylvania’s budget impasse drags onto 4 months and 6 days late.
“State house is going to be really competitive next year,” Yost said. “So do you want to be competitive? You better have a solution, I think, to our budget problems.”