Oct 31, 2021 4 min read

Voters submitting ballots by mail or filling them out Tuesday may not pay much attention to state court races – but powerful donors and political players are watching.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, dominated 5-2 by judges who ran as Democrats, serves an important role in sharply divided Harrisburg. To Democrats, it’s a last line of defense against an opposition that solidly controls the General Assembly and seeks the governor’s office. To Republicans, it’s a thorn in the side that prevents sweeping legislative changes.

Tuesday’s election won’t change the court much, with a single Republican judge retiring and both parties vying to take his seat. But it has drawn millions of dollars in campaign cash, a hard-fought campaign and controversial ads.

Democrat Maria McLaughlin faces Republican Kevin Brobson for the open seat. Several candidates are competing in the lower Superior Court and Commonwealth Court, both of which make major rulings that sometimes end up in the hands of the Supreme Court.

Both candidates for the top job have raised millions of dollars, with McLaughlin drawing support from Philadelphia-area attorneys and state labor unions and Brobson aided by the GOP and its operatives’ political action committees.

For many Pennsylvania voters, the state Supreme Court’s importance came into full view in 2018, when the high court ruled the existing congressional map unconstitutional. In a decision that shocked and outraged conservatives, the court issued a new map that split Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to more closely reflect voters’ party divisions.

Since that time, Republican lawmakers have moved repeatedly to shake up the high court.

Within weeks of the map ruling, then-representative Cris Dush, now a Republican senator, moved to impeach four of the court’s five Democrats. The effort drew criticism and didn’t succeed, but fellow Republicans have since proposed reforms that could help weaken the court’s Democratic tilt.

Earlier this year, state Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, proposed a constitutional amendment that would set judicial districts for the state’s highest courts, with judges running regionally rather than for statewide office. Such a change could guarantee conservatives at least a handful of spots.

Diamond’s amendment was tabled in March after passing in a 13-12 committee vote. It hasn’t been raised since.

While moves to outright remove justices or retool their election process have come up against skepticism even from fellow Republicans, both parties have gone all-out to seize the lone open seat Tuesday.

It may be part of a Pennsylvania tradition: The 2015 state Supreme Court race cost more than $16 million, a nationwide judicial record at the time.

Lawmaker seeks coal heat plan

A British project to turn abandoned coal mines into community heat sources could be investigated in Pennsylvania if a state lawmaker gets his way.

The village of Seaham in northern England is set to be a showcase at an upcoming United Nations climate conference. Engineers are working to turn the town’s coal mines, long abandoned and filled with water, into sources of home heat.

The geothermal technology would draw water from the mines, heat it and then pump it directly to homes and businesses.

In a proposal to colleagues this month, Rep. Joe Webster, D-Montgomery, backed a state study on the plan’s feasibility in Pennsylvania. Retrofitting the state’s vast network of abandoned mines would provide environmentally friendly heating while employing engineers and construction workers in the process, he said.

“Pennsylvania may be able to adopt a similar approach and develop a new and valuable energy resource,” Webster wrote.

Cruz clashes with ‘yinzers’

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, struck at the University of Pittsburgh on Thursday – and drew mockery online for botching a famous Western Pennsylvania expression.

Cruz criticized the university on Twitter for purportedly encouraging gender-neutral language, including “colleagues, guests, all, yinz, friends, people, students, folks” in place of “ladies and gentlemen.”

Cruz said of those encouraging the new language: “Folks, these yinz are cray-cray (crazy).”

The misuse of “yinz” – the well-known Pittsburgh slang akin to “y’all” – quickly attracted insults from the region.

It’s not the first time Cruz has sparred with Pittsburghers.

In January, he tweeted that President Joe Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris climate agreement showed “he’s more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh.”

The comment drew widespread criticism, including from Pittsburgh’s mayor.

Ryan Brown covers statewide politics for Ogden Newspapers. He can be reached at rbrown@altoonamirror.com.