Patricia McCullough was apparently too Trumpy even for Republicans. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania primary voters rejected her bid for the state’s Supreme Court roughly three years after she voted as an appeals court judge to halt the state’s certification of the 2020 election.
That means McCullough, who spoke at a rally for far-right election-denying GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano in March, won’t get a seat on the court that easily overturned her Donald Trump-aligned 2020 ruling. She was defeated by Carolyn Carluccio, who Bolts Magazine noted “also echoed some false claims of election impropriety.”
Despite McCullough’s loss, the November general election will still be significant as Carluccio faces off against Democrat Daniel McCaffery. The ideological balance of the court won’t immediately be at stake on the court that currently has a 4-2 Democratic majority. But the winner will fill a vacancy left by Democratic Chief Justice Max Baer, who died last year.
So a Republican judicial victory would narrow the political gap on the court that could decide crucial issues, including weighing in on the 2024 election.
State voters will have the chance to decide whether to put their court, and possibly the country, on the path to GOP control.
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