Pa. Democrats decry Jeffrey Yass spending in judicial races, compare him to Elon Musk

This story originally appeared on WITF.

About 50 progressive activists gathered outside the workplace of Pennsylvania’s richest man on Thursday to sound the alarm about his financial support for the Republican Party’s efforts to oust three state Supreme Court justices.

The protesters’ message was clear: Billionaire Jeffrey Yass is Pennsylvania’s very own Elon Musk, a fabulously wealthy powerbroker attempting to use his fortune to reshape democracy.

“Vote ‘Yes’ — not Yass,” the activists chanted while marching outside of Susquehanna International Group’s headquarters in Montgomery County.

From the “All Eyes on Yass” coalition, protesters carried signs reading, “KEEP BILLIONAIRES OUT OF THE COURTS!,” with the text sandwiched between headshots of Musk and Yass.

Yass, Susquehanna’s co-founder, is a financier with a history of bankrolling Republican campaigns and those aligned with his pet projects, like making state public education dollars available to private schools. With a large ownership stake in TikTok parent company ByteDance, Yass’ wealth is estimated at $65.7 billion by Forbes.

Democrats say Yass’ involvement in this year’s judicial retention races is only the latest example of his work to influence the judiciary for more favorable outcomes for his causes. The group that organized Thursday’s protest includes groups on the left side of Democratic Party politics, including Make the Road PA and the PA Working Families Party.

Three Pennsylvania justices — Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht — were each elected as Democrats in 2015 and are facing their first retention votes in November.

It’s unclear how much Yass has spent on the GOP’s “No in November” campaign so far this year. A conservative organization he regularly contributes to, Commonwealth Partners, has ramped up spending on political mailers, social media advertising and text messages to voters.

Commonwealth Partners’ ads call Donohue, Dougherty and Wecht “progressive” justices who are driven by “woke ideology.” The ads urge voters to “term limit” the trio.

Campaign finance reports show Yass contributed $1.25 million on Aug. 13 to the Students First PAC, among Yass’ network of campaign committees that work to shape Pennsylvania’s elections.

Yass and a spokesman for Commonwealth Partners did not respond to a request for comment.

Retention elections see incumbent judges face a simple “Yes” or “No” vote every ten years that determines whether they can hold onto their seat. This year’s race is poised to break the mold of retention elections being viewed as dull.

Opposite of Yass, the National Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee committed a six-figure investment to defend the justices’ seats.

And without explicitly backing the justices, the national and state chapters of the ACLU said they would spend about $500,000 on a campaign to inform voters about the retention race’s impact on “civil rights and civil liberties.”

‘Last line of defense’

The protesters’ description of Yass as Pennsylvania’s Musk has also been adopted by the broader Democratic Party establishment.

Though state party Chair Eugene DePasquale didn’t mention Yass by name in a statement responding to Commonwealth Partners’ messaging, he jabbed at “MAGA billionaires” funneling money into the race, much like Musk’s unsuccessful $20 million campaign in Wisconsin earlier this year to sway the outcome of a Supreme Court race there.

“We can’t allow our elections to be bought, and we must fight to protect a fair Supreme Court that will stand up for fair elections, reproductive rights, and working families across the Commonwealth,” DePasquale said.

Those are many of the motivating reasons driving Raquel Jackson-Stone, who leads advocacy efforts for One Pennsylvania, another group that organized the Yass protest, to get more involved in the retention race this year.

“The Supreme Court is our last line of defense against billionaires’ takeover,” Jackson-Stone said.