Democrat Dan McCaffery Wins PA Supreme Court Seat

PENNSYLVANIA — Democrat Dan McCaffery has won a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, giving his party a 5-2 majority, according to projections from the New York Times and the Associated Press.

10:38 p.m.

Roughly 83 percent of all votes are in, and McCaffery's lead has shrunk further but still remains staunch. A large percentage of the remaining precincts in the state are in heavily Democratic counties like Philadelphia and Montgomery. Should he hold on to win, it would mark one of the more telling Democratic victories Tuesday night, along with Ohio voting left on abortion rights and Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear winning re-election.

McCaffery: 1,174,568
Carluccio: 972,403

10:23 p.m.

Some analysts are attributing Democratic wins and leads, including the Supreme Court race, to enormous student turnout. Some schools in Pennsylvania have seen from 200 to 500 percent more voter participation than 2021, the last "odd" election year, according to estimates from program coordinators with YouthVote.

10:04 p.m.

Carluccio continues to gain, but with two thirds of the state's votes now tallied, it may not be enough.

McCaffery: 932,174
Carluccio: 715,158

9:45 p.m.

McCaffery has thus far outperformed major Democrats in recent elections in several counties. In Lackawanna, his 18 percent margin over Carluccio is better than both President Joe Biden's in 2020 (8 percent) and even U.S. Sen. John Fetterman in the midterms (16 percent), according to one analysis.

9:40 p.m.

Votes from rural counties have given a surge to Carluccio as exactly half of the state's precincts are now reporting. She has cut the Democrat's lead substantially but still remains behind.

McCaffery: 753,842
Carluccio: 505,993

9:19 p.m.

With about 34 percent of ballots in, it remains McCaffery's race.

McCaffery: 543,305
Carluccio: 271,687

9:00 p.m.

Carluccio is beginning to eat into McCaffery's percentage lead, but still remains well off his pace.

McCaffery: 357,618
Carluccio: 117,986

8:31 p.m.

McCaffery maintains his lead with about 12 percent of precincts now reporting.

McCaffery: 249,934
Carluccio: 60,905

8:16 p.m.

McCaffery holds an early lead, 108,288 to 27,844 votes, with just an initial fraction of mail-in ballots thus far counted. As mail-in ballot voters are largely from the left, these early returns don't give too much insight to the race.

Original story

Voters hit the polls on Election Day to choose a new state Supreme Court Justice in Pennsylvania in what is perhaps the best bellwether for swing state ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Democratic Superior Court Justice Daniel McCaffery, of Philadelphia, faced off against Republican Carolyn Carluccio, the President Judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.

Polls are now closed. Check back with Patch for updates as the night progresses.

Democrats currently have a 4-2 majority on the seven-person court. The race is to fill a seat left vacant by longtime Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Max Baer, who died in Oct. 2022 at 74.

Baer had been slated to be replaced a few short months following his death, as the Court has a mandatory retirement age of 75. So this race was coming. And it's a race with enormous import, as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has enormous sway over keystone issues like abortion and how the state certifies presidential election results.

A McCaffery victory would likely secure the court for Democrats for years, as justices serve 10-year terms. Republicans, who suffered major losses in the gubernatorial and state legislative races a year ago, would see one of their last traces of significant power in Harrisburg outside of the state Senate seap away with a loss.

The race is between two prosecutors. McCaffery is a former assistant district attorney in Philadelphia who worked on the major trials unit. Carluccio, meanwhile, ran on a long career as a prosecutor defined by, according to her campaign, convicting "large-scale drug dealers, bank robbers, and money launderers."