Republicans win key judicial races in Pennsylvania
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
By: Scott Detrow
scott_detrow@pubradionews.net
The top prize in Pennsylvania went to Republican Joan Orie Melvin who won a seat on the State Supreme Court. She beat her Democratic challenger Jack Penella by nearly 6%. Her victory tips the Supreme Court's partisan balance to the GOP.
The Allegheny County native led a strong Republican ticket – returns show the party will likely capture three of four Superior Court seats, and both Commonwealth Court spots.
That's in spite of Democrats' 1.2 million voter advantage in Pennsylvania.
Political observers viewed Tuesday's election as a test of how competitive the Commonwealth would be without a presidential election creating heavy Democratic turnout. So, the Pennsylvania election shows Republicans are still competitive on in statewide battle in what's been viewed as an increasingly blue state.
That's likely music to the ears of Tom Corbett, Jim Gerlach, Pat Toomey and other possible 2010 statewide Republican candidates.