HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) – Two judges from politically connected families picked up endorsements Saturday from the Democratic State Committee for two of the unprecedented three open seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
While a winter storm heaped snow outside the Hotel Hershey, inside it, Philadelphia Judge Kevin Dougherty and Superior Court Judge David Wecht of Pittsburgh garnered more than the required two-thirds majority support on the first ballot.
Wecht, 52, a former Allegheny County judge who was elected to the Superior Court in 2011, is the son of Allegheny County’s nationally prominent former medical examiner Cyril Wecht. Dougherty, 54, a Philadelphia judge since 2001, is the brother of John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty Jr., business manager of the politically powerful Local 98 of Electrical Workers Union.
No candidate was endorsed for the third seat after the runners-up, Superior Court Judge Christine Donohue of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Judge Dwayne Woodruff, failed to win enough votes on a second ballot.
Donohue, Woodruff and both of the other jurists who sought endorsements – Superior Court Judge Anne Lazarus of Philadelphia and Jefferson County Judge Foradora – all plan to stay in the race for the nominations that will be decided in the May 19 primary, according to the candidates or their spokesmen.
Wecht said the endorsement is an important element of a successful campaign.
“The endorsement puts at a candidate’s disposal the resources of the committee people around the state, including their networks of supporters and their operations that they’ve employed in other campaigns,” he said.
Some of the candidates failed to win an endorsement.
Woodruff, a former cornerback for the Pittsburgh Steelers before he became a county judge in 2006, called the results of the balloting “quite disturbing.” He declined to specify a reason but cited what he considers a lack of diversity in the courts and the need for “a different perspective.”
“I’m taking my fight to the people … I think they want to see someone like me on the bench,” said Woodruff, the only Black Democratic candidate for the state’s high court.
Lazarus, who has been on the appellate bench since 2010 and was a Philadelphia judge for nearly two decades before that, noted that the endorsements were both for males. “Are you seeing any women getting nominated?” she asked.
The candidates have until March 10 to collect at least 1,000 voters’ signatures each to qualify for the primary ballot. The three top vote-getters in each party will square off in the Nov. 3 general election.
At least six Republicans are also running for the three open seats.
Two of the openings on the seven-member court stem from scandals – Justice Joan Orie Melvin, a Republican, resigned in 2013 following her corruption conviction, and Justice Seamus McCaffery, a Democrat, resigned last year after he was implicated in a pornographic email scandal.
The third vacancy resulted from the departure of Chief Justice Ronald Castille, a Republican who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 last year.
While a winter storm heaped snow outside the Hotel Hershey, inside it, Philadelphia Judge Kevin Dougherty and Superior Court Judge David Wecht of Pittsburgh garnered more than the required two-thirds majority support on the first ballot.
Wecht, 52, a former Allegheny County judge who was elected to the Superior Court in 2011, is the son of Allegheny County’s nationally prominent former medical examiner Cyril Wecht. Dougherty, 54, a Philadelphia judge since 2001, is the brother of John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty Jr., business manager of the politically powerful Local 98 of Electrical Workers Union.
No candidate was endorsed for the third seat after the runners-up, Superior Court Judge Christine Donohue of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Judge Dwayne Woodruff, failed to win enough votes on a second ballot.
Donohue, Woodruff and both of the other jurists who sought endorsements – Superior Court Judge Anne Lazarus of Philadelphia and Jefferson County Judge Foradora – all plan to stay in the race for the nominations that will be decided in the May 19 primary, according to the candidates or their spokesmen.
Wecht said the endorsement is an important element of a successful campaign.
“The endorsement puts at a candidate’s disposal the resources of the committee people around the state, including their networks of supporters and their operations that they’ve employed in other campaigns,” he said.
Some of the candidates failed to win an endorsement.
Woodruff, a former cornerback for the Pittsburgh Steelers before he became a county judge in 2006, called the results of the balloting “quite disturbing.” He declined to specify a reason but cited what he considers a lack of diversity in the courts and the need for “a different perspective.”
“I’m taking my fight to the people … I think they want to see someone like me on the bench,” said Woodruff, the only Black Democratic candidate for the state’s high court.
Lazarus, who has been on the appellate bench since 2010 and was a Philadelphia judge for nearly two decades before that, noted that the endorsements were both for males. “Are you seeing any women getting nominated?” she asked.
The candidates have until March 10 to collect at least 1,000 voters’ signatures each to qualify for the primary ballot. The three top vote-getters in each party will square off in the Nov. 3 general election.
At least six Republicans are also running for the three open seats.
Two of the openings on the seven-member court stem from scandals – Justice Joan Orie Melvin, a Republican, resigned in 2013 following her corruption conviction, and Justice Seamus McCaffery, a Democrat, resigned last year after he was implicated in a pornographic email scandal.
The third vacancy resulted from the departure of Chief Justice Ronald Castille, a Republican who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 last year.
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