Three Democratic judges are on the ballot this year for retention elections. Typically, these types of “yes-or-no” races generate little turnout. But Republican activists and organizers are turning up the heat on the election in the hopes of dismantling the court’s Democratic majority in the key battleground state for the first time in a decade.

Judges for all of the Keystone State’s courts serve 10-year terms, though they can serve unlimited terms until they reach the required retirement age of 75. The judges run in partisan races to be elected in a general election. But, in a retention election, voters simply check “yes” or “no” to allow judges to stay on for another 10 years.

The state’s Supreme Court, comprised of five Democrats and two Republicans, has made critical decisions since Democrats took the majority in 2015. The court maintained the state’s COVID-19 laws, intervened in congressional redistricting, allowed for late ballots to be counted in the 2020 election, and upheld the 2020 election results when Trump’s loss was challenged. 

Scott Presler, founder of Early Vote Action and a “Make America Great Again” organizer, is already promising to post once a day to promote a “no” vote on the three Democratic judges up for retention: Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht. His goal is to raise awareness because it is such a “low information race” in an off-year cycle.

“The majority of people don’t A) know about their justices and B) they really don’t even know whether or not they want to keep them or boot them,” Presler told the Washington Examiner. “And so the majority of people, I think, just go along to get along and vote yes to retention. And that’s a part of the problem.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention race is already shaping up to be a costly and vigorous campaign. Presler said he’s already hired 25 staffers from Pennsylvania and neighboring states and expects to add more to hit his goal of having 1.5 million voters cast a ballot in the election.

“I believe if you’re gonna, you know, win, then you overestimate and you shoot for the stars,” Presler said. “So we’re gonna go for more than what the last Democrat justice was able to win by in 2023 in a heated statewide election. And if we get 1.5 million ‘no’ voters, we will make Pennsylvania history.”

In talking with voters, Presler and his team emphasized why Democrats have held the Supreme Court majority for the last 10 years: because Republicans didn’t turn out.

“Republicans, respectfully and lovingly, dropped the ball, and we didn’t focus on the Supreme Court, and it was because we didn’t make a play for those seats in 2015 that this court has been polarized against election integrity,” Presler said, noting his argument about preserving elections has captured the interest of a significant number of people he’s spoken with.

Other groups on both sides of the aisle are making this race a priority as well. The Republican State Leadership Committee, which helps raise money for state races, highlighted the Pennsylvania retention elections as critical because the court would oversee redistricting for state and federal races in the next cycle.

On the Democratic side, state political officials are sending out emails drawing attention to the races, with one stating it will be “one of the most important election years for our future.”

“This is our chance to put up another roadblock to MAGA extremism in our state,” the email, obtained by Spotlight PA, read.

Deborah Gross, president of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, said the level of attention the race is getting is “upsetting” because retention races used to be nonpartisan, and the judges’ political affiliations are not included on the retention ballots.

“It’s just partisan-focused and not even merit-focused,” Gross told the Washington Examiner. “So what the concern is, it’s not being based on performance, but simply based on the party that they ran under 10 years ago.”

Mobilizing voters, particularly in an off-cycle election year with no Trump name on the top of the ballot, will be Republicans’ largest hurdle. The GOP has faced several setbacks since Trump entered the White House, with Democrats flipping GOP state legislative seats in special elections in New York, Pennsylvania, and Iowa. 

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and its super PAC, admitted that Republicans are the “low prop party” and that off-cycle elections will be Republicans’ downfall if they don’t change their strategies.

“Our ideas are better,” Kirk said in a post following the Wisconsin loss. “They’re actually popular. But we need to match like for like. We need to out organize Democrats. We need to match their fundraising advantage.” 

“Let Wisconsin be a wakeup call,” he added. “Let it be a call to return to the frontlines. We won in November, but to save the Republican [agenda] we must string together multiple victories and that starts in 2026.”

It is unclear whether Musk will start investing in the Pennsylvania “no to retention” initiative, though he did pledge to donate to various Republican candidates and causes after being the GOP’s top donor in 2024. 

Gross said she worries about the level of money likely to flow into the top court’s race, noting that judges “shouldn’t be involved in politics.”

“That’s the biggest concern, right? It’s that this is going to become just a money-focused, political, nasty race, as opposed to really digging into the merit of the discussion,” she said.

“You know, our judicial system is supposed to be independent.”

But the Wisconsin court race proved that Musk’s money doesn’t always assure victory, with GOP strategists noting it only incentivizes Democratic voters to turn out against Trump. Musk said after Schimel’s defeat he expected to lose in Wisconsin, instead calling the passage of the state’s voter ID initiative the “most important thing.”

Musk invested in the Florida special elections, though not to the extent he did in Wisconsin. Republicans did ultimately win both seats on Tuesday, but those margins were far narrower than the 30-point reelection gap cinched by national security adviser Mike Waltz and former Rep. Matt Gaetz each. 

Musk has experience investing in Pennsylvania. During the 2024 election, he pledged to give $1 million a day to voters signing his America PAC’s petition to back the Constitution. The sweepstakes spurned legal action, though a judge in Pennsylvania ruled the awards could continue through the presidential election.

But now the billionaire-turned-government adviser is facing a lawsuit from a canvasser who gathered signatures for America PAC, according to the New York Times. The canvasser, listed as John Doe for privacy reasons, accused Musk of breaching his contract and not paying him $20,000 for the number of signatures he collected. Musk promised $100 for signing the petition and $47 (later $100) for anyone who recruited a signatory by Nov. 30.

DUFFY SAYS NO ‘BEEF’ WITH MUSK AND DOGE DESPITE ‘BUMPY’ START

Meanwhile, Democrats are hopeful that Musk will continue to invest in GOP candidates, convinced this will only sink Republican campaigns. A few lawmakers told Axios that they want Musk to campaign for their challengers or GOP opponents, quipping, “I’ll pay for his coach flight.”

“HMP greatly encourages one of the most unpopular men in America to campaign with Republicans across the country,” House Majority PAC national press secretary Katarina Flicker said in a statement. “His efforts will be crucial to Democrats taking back the House in 2026.”