News & Brews November 5, 2025
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Pa. voters retain state Supreme Court justices!
Yesterday, Pennsylvania voters chose to retain Democrat state Supreme Court Justices Christine Donohue, David Wecht, and Kevin Dougherty for additional 10-year terms. (Donohue reaches the mandatory retirement age in 2027, so she’ll be able to serve less than 1/5 of her term.) Our president and CEO, Matt Brouillette, said, “While those who support the rule of law came up short in our historic effort to unseat sitting justices, we hope judges across Pennsylvania take note of what can happen to them when they choose to legislate from the bench rather than interpret the law.”
O’Connor in Pittsburgh, Krasner in Philly
In unsurprising election results, Democrat Corey O’Connor defeated Republican Tony Moreno and will become Pittsburgh’s next mayor. The Post-Gazette reports, “O’Connor won his mayoral election almost 20 years to the day [after] his father, [former Pittsburgh Mayor] Bob O’Connor won his.” In Philadelphia, incumbent Democrat District Attorney Larry Krasner won re-election over challenger Pat Dugan. Dugan had lost a Democrat primary challenge to Krasner and ran on the Republican ticket in the General Election.
A big ‘oops’ in Chester County
Hanlon’s Razor famously reminds us, “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.” We highly doubt anything nefarious was behind yesterday’s chaos in Chester County. The county used poll books from the primary election, meaning the books included only registered Republicans and Democrats—no Independents and no voters who may have registered since the primary. This meant when some voters went to the polls, their names weren’t in the books and they were told they would need to vote via provisional ballot. Eventually, the correct books were delivered, but to account for the chaos, a judge extended polling hours until 10:00 p.m.
Foretelling a 2026 Blue Wave?
POLITICO reports that the last time Democrats had a night as strong as last night was right before the 2018 Blue Wave. “All across the country, Democrats won big, from the marquee races to the down-ballot contests. Counties that had shifted right a year ago veered back to the left, and the suburbs that powered Democrats’ massive wins in the first Trump administration came roaring back.” What does this mean for 2026? Republicans warned it “could portend serious challenges,” the biggest of which “will be figuring out how to turn out low-propensity Trump voters next year.”
U.S. Steel outlines plans to spend $11B by 2028
The AP reports that yesterday, U.S. Steel “detailed its billion-dollar multiyear growth plan with new owner Nippon Steel that includes modernizing the century-old steelmaker.” The plan includes spending $11 billion by the end of 2028 to upgrade U.S. Steel’s facilities. “The company is modernizing and expanding its manufacturing operations and expanding research and development to feature ‘higher value, lower emission steel.’”