Who’s running for Philadelphia District Attorney, City Controller and local and statewide judicial posts in on November 4
This article is originally published on The Philadelphia Citizen, and is republished on FunTimes Magazine in partnership with Every Voice, Every Vote.
In the 2025 general election in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania candidates are running for District Attorney, City Controller, and a number of local and statewide judges — including confusing and news-making statewide judicial retention elections.
If this past year has taught us anything, it’s that your vote counts.
In 2024, PA’s voters helped determine not just the current occupant of the White House, but also who’s in charge of implementing or pushing back against federal policy at home. PA voters — including a higher-than-usual Philadelphia turnout for Republican candidates — replaced a longtime Democratic U.S. Senator with a newcomer Republican and chose a Republican for PA Attorney General, a role that traditionally can has assent to or push back on constitutionality of federal policies closer to home. Translation: Local votes count.
That said, Philadelphia’s 17 percent voter turnout for the May 2025 primary displayed little urgency. That kind of apathy isn’t going make our problems go away. The good news: The upcoming general election gives us a do-over.
On or before November 4, 2025, voters elect:
- DISTRICT ATTORNEY
- CITY CONTROLLER
- JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT
- JUDGE OF THE COMMONWEALTH COURT
- JUDGE OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
- JUDGE OF THE MUNICIPAL COURT
- STATEWIDE JUDICIAL RETENTION ELECTIONS
For sample ballots, info on voter registration, voting by mail, voting drop boxes, satellite election offices and more, go to the City Commissioners’ website.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Philadelphia’s District Attorney runs the office responsible for prosecuting alleged crimes committed within Philadelphia. According to the District Attorney website, the office (DAO) employs 600 people, including 300 assistant district attorneys, and prosecutes 40,000 criminal cases each year, from minor offenses to felonies. Symbolically, the DAO represents victims of crimes. In reality, the DAO works with law enforcement to build cases against defendants.
The DAO can also choose to seek harsher or more lenient sentences, including the death penalty. This is one place where an individual DA’s own philosophy comes into play. Philadelphia votes for a District Attorney every four years.
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE
Larry Krasner
Incumbent Larry Krasner has been Philadelphia District Attorney since 2018, having been first elected in 2017 and reelected in 2021. In 2017, Krasner was part of a headline-grabbing wave of large-city progressive / reformist district attorneys, championing more justice for and less policing of Black and Brown bodies. Krasner is one of few of those DAs still in office.
Seven years on, Krasner’s results have been mixed: Fewer arrests for possession of marijuana, but also a big uptick in retail theft. No more cash bail for nonviolent offenders, but still overflowing jails. Also, some of his juvenile criminal justice reforms have languished. The number of youth awaiting trial as adults is now higher than when Krasner first took office, though it’s still down from 10 years ago.
And yet: As in other cities nationally, homicides in Philadelphia have gone down dramatically since 2023.
One thing’s for sure, Krasner has made his fair share of critics — of both his actions and his attitude, which some ungenerously compare to Donald Trump. These critics include leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police, who, in 2021, sued him over a “do not call” list his office created of officers with a history of dishonesty, use of excessive force or civil rights abuses. They also include Republican members of the PA House of Representatives, who attempted to begin impeachment proceedings against him until the PA Supreme Court intervened. Republican legislators succeeded, however, in limiting Krasner’s power to prosecute cases in and around SEPTA stations.
Before becoming DA, Krasner was a defense attorney — he referred to himself as a “career civil rights lawyer” — who worked for the Federal Public Defender’s Office before opening his own practice and where made his reputation with cases involving police brutality, suing the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, along with state Senators Sharif Street and Anthony Hardy Williams, U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans and the Working Families Party back him.
In the May 2025 primary election, Krasner defeated Pat Dugan, a former Municipal Court judge, for the Democratic nomination. Now, Dugan is running as a Republican against Krasner.
Philadelphia Democratic Party: Endorsed
Larry Krasner’s campaign website, Facebook
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE
Pat Dugan
Former Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan seems the definition of a RINO — Republican in name only. The lifelong Democrat, Philadelphian and military veteran resigned from the bench to run against incumbent District Attorney Larry Krasner in the May 2025 primary. Although Dugan garnered strong union support, he lost to Krasner.
However, enough Republican voters wrote in Dugan’s name on their primary ballots — more than the required 1,000 — making him the Republican candidate for DA. That said, Dugan has insisted his traditionally Democratic stances on second chances and incarceration diversion are unchanged — and that he’s running to represent Philadelphia, not a party.
Governor Ed Rendell appointed Dugan to the bench in 2007. Dugan went on to found the Philadelphia Veterans Court and to support other “problem-solving” courts designed to divert specific, low-threat populations to social services instead of incarceration. In contract to Krasner, Dugan has called for more assistant DAs to come from local law schools, supports more wraparound services for offenders, would like to embed prosecutors in communities, and says he’ll more strongly prosecute both gun crimes and quality of life crimes, such as retail theft.
In October, Dugan was endorsed by the Forward Party.
Philadelphia Republican Party: Endorsed
Pat Dugan’s campaign website and Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok
CITY CONTROLLER
Philadelphia’s City Controller is our municipal auditor, the elected official in charge of making sure the City of Philadelphia is spending taxpayer (and other) dollars wisely. Most city governments call this post the “comptroller.” Philadelphia is different. Philly’s controller cosigns on all municipal invoices and makes sure all municipal departments are fiscally responsible, keeping tabs on expenditures but also investigating efficiency and corruption within all manner of city dealings.
Past controllers investigated and reported on how the Department of Sanitation mismanaged collection of residential trash, the City’s botched rollout of the Covid vaccine, the Police Department’s and mayoral administrations’ wild spending habits, and what was up with $33 million missing from City coffers in 2018. The catch: The controller has the power to research and report on problems, but not legislate, implement or enact solutions.
Philadelphia elects a City Controller every four years.
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE
Christy Brady
Christy Brady was elected City Controller in 2023, after the departure of Rebecca Rhynhart, who resigned from the post to run for mayor. A lifelong Philadelphian, Brady is a CPA who has spent her entire 30-plus year career in the office. As a candidate, she listed her top four priorities as:
- Gun violence: Further examine the City’s distribution of funds in the Community Expansion Grant Program, wherein Philadelphia gave $13.5 million to 31 local projects working to combat gun violence.
Her findings: The City circumvented standard operating procedures, “by excluding other possible providers from bidding on the contract for the oversight.” - Opioid epidemic: Follow up on former Controller Rhynhart’s 2021 audit of the HeathChoices Fund administered by the City’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services.
Her findings: Philadelphia is on track to spend its share of the Opioid Settlement Funds. - Financial literacy: Create a robust financial literacy curriculum in public schools.
So far: Not much. - Underground economy: Brady viewed “red flags” among the out-of-town developers, mostly LLCs, who come in, build big, and vanish without paying city fees or listing any employees.
Her findings: A 2024 audit of Licenses and Inspections revealed the City department failed to: adequately review contractors’ licenses, complete a substantial amount of electrical inspections, or issue proper documentation for a large number of building permits.
In addition, Brady’s office found Licenses & Inspections’ Contractual Services Unit is inadequately staffed, with just 15 inspectors to oversee the imminently dangerous properties along with the thousands of additional properties identified as unsafe. Another report urged the City to allow more outdoor dining to boost the economy, citing other cities with greater success in the area. Her office found $2.2 million in unauthorized municipal overtime costs.
She’s reported that the City’s Homestead Exemption Program results in more than $11 million in “real estate tax fraud,” and the City’s Department of Aviation, Managing Director’s Office and Office of the Chief Administrative Officer spent $15,178,134 over fiscal years 2021 and 2024 on contracts without adhering to the city’s proper bidding process.
Philadelphia Democratic Party: Endorsed
Christy Brady’s campaign website, Facebook, Instagram, X
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE
Ari Patrinos
Northwest Philadelphia native Ari Patrinos has an impressive resume: Harvard graduate with a master’s in political science from the University of Chicago, and Wall Street stockbroker. He says he’s running to help the City provide “basic services” like clean streets and quality public schools. Patrinos wants to help the City recruit more highly qualified workers and Philadelphia tax rates — not traditionally the purview of a comptroller, but, as recent Controllers have shown, the job can be a bit of what you make it.
This would be Patrinos’ first time in elected office.
Philadelphia Republican Party: Endorsed
No social media posts
JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT
The Pennsylvania Superior Court plays a crucial role in the judicial system, serving as an intermediate appellate court that handles criminal and civil appeals in County Courts of Common Pleas. It’s the pivotal juncture in the legal journey before a case can move on to the PA Supreme Court. The Superior Court holds significant sway in the state’s legal landscape due to the constraints on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s capacity to hear all cases.
Panels of three judges typically review cases, and these judges often travel to various locations to hear cases, ensuring accessibility and thorough consideration of legal matters.
There is one open seat for a judge of the Superior Court in PA.
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE
Brandon Neuman
Brandon Neuman is a lifelong Washington County resident (south of Pittsburgh) who has served as a judge for the Washington County Court of Common Pleas since 2018. In this role, he first presided over civil cases including divorce, custody, domestic relations and protection from abuse orders, then, from 2002 to 2024, criminal cases. He has currently resumed his role as a Civil Judge and also presides over Veterans’ Specialty Court.
In August 2024, Neuman ruled that Washington County election officials had to give voters who made fatal errors filling out their mail-in ballot envelopes the opportunity to vote via provisional ballot.
From 2010 to 2018, Neuman represented District 48 in the PA House of Representatives, where he served on the House Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Consumer Affairs; Judiciary, Labor and Industry, and Rules committees and the Crime Delinquency and Sentencing commissions. He also chaired the Offense-Related Guidelines Review Subcommittee and Interstate Commission for Juveniles. In 2014, he authored legislation to overhaul the rape kit processing system, which was experiencing a serious backlog.
Neuman was a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in the 2014 elections. He came in fifth in the primary.
Prior to public service, Neuman was a civil litigation trial attorney who represented victims of nursing home abuse and neglect.
PA Bar Association: Highly recommended
PA Democratic Party: Endorsed
Brandon Neuman’s campaign website, Facebook and Instagram
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE
Maria Battista
This is Maria Battista’s second run for judge of the PA Superior Court, after losing in the 2023 general election. Since Battista, she has led government services at The Judge Group, a Wayne, PA-based global technology consulting, managed services, learning and talent solutions firm.
Battista has served as an assistant district attorney for Venango County and legal counsel for the Department of State under Governor Tom Corbett and the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners. She has also worked for the Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Department of the Navy, NAVSUP WSS.
Battista has said that it is essential that judges do not bring politics into their decision-making and that the late Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia reflects her judicial philosophy.
To win the Republican nomination, Battista defeated Republican Party- and PA Bar Association-endorsed candidate Ann Marie Wheatcraft, a Common Pleas Court Judge in Chester County since 2012.
PA Bar Association: Not Recommended (for failure to participate)
PA Republican Party: Endorsed
Maria Battista’s campaign website, Facebook and Instagram
LIBERAL CANDIDATE
Daniel S. Wassmer
Daniel S. Wassmer is an attorney in private practice in Bucks County. In 2020, he ran as a Libertarian candidate for Attorney General, and, in 2022, as a Keystone Party candidate for the U.S. Senate. In a 2020 Ballotpedia “Candidate Conversation,” Wassmer touted his more than 30 years of varied legal experience and expressed support for gun rights, objection to government overreach, and described then-AG candidate Josh Shapiro (and Shapiro’s Republican opponent) as “literally garbage.” More currently, his Facebook profile reveals a dislike of Trump and the Trump administration’s approach to international affairs, health matters, business matters, more.
The website for Wassmer’s 2022 bid for U.S. Senate describes him as “pro choice,” “pro justice reform,” “pro immigrant,” “pro business” and “pro education.”
No official campaign website
JUDGE OF THE COMMONWEALTH COURT
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court is the state’s second intermediate appellate court. Tasked with addressing matters concerning state and local governments and regulatory agencies, the court also functions as a trial court for lawsuits involving the Commonwealth. Comprising nine judges that serve ten-year terms, the current composition features three Democrats, five Republicans, and one vacant seat. Recent noteworthy cases handled by the Commonwealth Court include a ruling declaring Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional and upholding the legality of the state’s ban on Medicaid covering abortion expenses (Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services).
There is one open seat for judge of the Commonwealth Court.
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE
Stella Tsai
Stella Tsai accepted an appointment to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in 2016 and won the election to serve a 10-year term in 2017. From the bench in Orphans’ Court and the Civil Trial, Criminal Trial and Family Court divisions, she has presided over will contests, trust and estate disputes, custody matters and guardianships, contract disputes, medical malpractice and motor vehicle cases. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
Prior to becoming a judge, Tsai was a business litigation partner in the Philadelphia office of Archer & Greiner, PC, where she concentrated in regulatory compliance, land use and ethics. She chaired Administrative Law at the City of Philadelphia Law Department from 2000 to 2003, managing attorneys who represent child welfare and social service agencies. Her pro bono and volunteer work centered on voting, civil and immigrant rights.
Among the Penn Law graduate’s career honors: the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Sandra Day O’Connor Award, Penn’s Howard Lesnick Pro Bono Award, Asian Pacific American Bar Assocation’s Attorney of the Year, along with awards for civil rights advocacy and zoning code reform.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Highly recommended
PA Democratic Party: Endorsed
Stella Tsai’s campaign website, Facebook, X and Instagram
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE
Matthew Wolford
Attorney Matthew Wolford founded his namesake law firm in 1999 in Erie, where he specializes in environmental law and represents oil and gas companies, trade associations, manufacturers, farmers and landowners. Prior to starting his private practice, Wolford prosecuted environmental crimes for the PA Office of Attorney General, served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of PA, was a member of the U.S. Attorney’s Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee for the Western District of PA, served as assistant counsel for the Department of Environmental Protection’s Northwest Regional Office and chaired the PA Bar Association’s Environmental and Energy Law Section. He’s also lectured as an adjunct professor at Gannon University, Allegheny College and Thiel College.
Some of his more recent cases helped pave the way for the oil and gas industries to more freely drill and frack in PA, including in the Allegheny National Forest.
Wolford is a graduate of Temple Law.
PA Bar Association: Highly recommended
PA Republican Party: Endorsed
Matthew Wolford’s campaign website
JUDGE OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
Courts of Common Pleas are Pennsylvania trial courts, in 60 judicial districts in the state. These courts deal with significant civil and criminal cases, including those that directly impact citizens’ everyday lives in deciding child custody, family matters, juvenile justice cases, parole and diversionary programs.
Philadelphia voters will elect nine (9) municipal judicial candidates on November 4, 2025.
There are nine open seats on the Court of Common Pleas.
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES
Will Braveman
Will Braveman, a one-time law clerk in the Court of Common Pleas, is now running for a seat there. The Temple Law grad worked as an attorney in the City’s Health and Human Services and Labor and Employment units for a combined 12 years, then was the employment law chair for Keller and Goggin, P.C. He founded his namesake firm, where he is designated counsel for large employee organizations, including Local 696 (library and Department of Revenue), the largest local of AFSCME District Council 33. He has also served as counsel to the firm of Robert Brand and Associates.
He’s been an attorney in Mental Health Court, founded a mock trial club, led neighborhood youth sports clubs, and lives near the S. 9th Street Market.
This is the second time Braveman is running for a seat on the Court of Common Pleas.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party and Working Families Party: Endorsed
Will Braveman’s campaign website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X
Leon A King II
Attorney Leon King was the first openly LGBTQ+ prisons commissioner in Philadelphia history, wears metal taps on his shoes (mostly for a practical reason) — and felt the impact of empathetic justice after getting caught for stealing a motorbike at age 19. He’s a former deputy solicitor for the City and now a practicing attorney — most of his work is in federal courts — and professor of criminal justice at Drexel University. He also served as Deputy Commission of the Baltimore City Jail System.
King’s work within the criminal justice system has given him empathy for incarcerated individuals — especially those working to recover from addiction, dealing with mental health issues, and juveniles — and given him respect for the outsized role the judicial system plays in individual lives. This is King’s fifth time running for a seat on the Court of Common Pleas. This time, he has the endorsement of the Democratic City Committee.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party: Endorsed
Leon A. King II’s campaign website, Facebook
Larry Farnese
Former three-term PA Senator representing the 1st Senatorial District, Larry Farnese came to the fore in 2008 when he won election for state Senator Vince Fumo’s seat — who went to federal prison for fraud. Farnese again made headlines in 2017 when he was indicted on, and subsequently acquitted of, 13 bribery charges. In 2020, he lost his Senate seat to Democratic Socialist Nikil Saval, who, as a PA Senator, is endorsing him for judge.
In the PA Senate, Farnese was minority chair of the Judiciary Committee and co-founder of the PA LGBTQ Equality Caucus. He excelled at securing grants for commercial development and community and cultural organizations — $1 billion over 11 years. He defeated the NRA as a plaintiff in a right-to-sue lawsuit, worked to improve oversight of nuisance bars, introduced anti-SLAPP legislation to protect First Amendment rights, and championed bike lanes.
Farnese has taught at Villanova and Temple law schools, serves on the board of affordable senior housing complex Casa Farnese, and has volunteered with Big Brother Big Sisters and Planned Parenthood.
In 2023, he briefly ran for a seat on the Court of Common Pleas before withdrawing.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party and Working Families Party: Endorsed
Larry Farnese’s campaign website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X
Brian Kisielewski
Attorney Brian Kisielewski develops and manages pro bono initiatives for Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, which is based in PA, Washington, D.C., New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Connecticut. Prior to Faegre Drinker, he managed professional development and pro bono programs at Stradley Ronon, was legal director of the City’s then-new Elder Justice & Civil Resource Center, managed the City’s Civil Filing Center, and served as a staff attorney in the PCRA & Habeas Corpus Appeals Unit, where he reviewed post-conviction petitions. He began his legal career as a clerk for the Court of Common Pleas.
This would be his first time holding public office.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party: Endorsed
Brian Kisielewski’s campaign website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and X
Irina Ehrlich
Since 2013, Irina Ehrlich has been an attorney in private practice who specializes in criminal defense, immigration and guardianship proceedings (often as appointed in the Philadelphia Orphans’ Court). She has taken more than 50 jury trials to verdict. Prior to founding her own firm, Ehrlich was an Assistant District Attorney who prosecuted cases that included attempted murder, drug trafficking and illegal gun possession. During her time in the DA’s office, she was promoted to the Investigation Division and designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Ehrlich came to the U.S. from the Soviet Union at age 21 as a political refugee and is trilingual in English, Russian and Ukrainian.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party and Working Families Party: Endorsed
Irina Ehrlich’s campaign website, Facebook, Instagram
Anthony Stefanski
Anthony Stefanski’s 37 years of experience as an attorney includes more than 200 jury trials and 5,000 bench trials. For the past three years, he has represented the Democratic City Committee under Bob Brady. He defended clients in high-profile cases while working for the Law Office of A. Charles Peruto, and prosecuted cases as an Assistant District Attorney, where he moved up to the Major Trials Unit. He began his career clerking in Civil Motions Court.
Hailing from Brigantine, NJ, the South Philadelphia resident is cousins with Cleveland Browns Coach Kevin Stefanski and former Sixers GM Eddie Stefanski.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
The Philadelphia Democratic Party: Endorsed
Anthony Stefanski’s campaign website, Facebook
Deborah Watson-Stokes
Deborah Watson-Stokes has spent more than 35 years at the District Attorney’s Office, where she worked in the Homicide Unit (where she secured more than 150 first-degree murder convictions over 17 years), served as assistant chief of the Southwest Division, chief of the Municipal Court Unit and, now, senior advisor on professional development. For 13 years, she was the only Black woman in the DA’s office; she now works to recruit Black attorneys to the office.
Watson-Stokes received the Barristers’ Association Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Woman of Distinction Award, Philadelphia Coalition for Victim Advocacy Award and a number of alumni awards. She serves on the Barristers’ Advisory Board.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party: Endorsed
Deborah Watson-Stokes’s campaign website, Instagram, LinkedIn, X
Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones has 11 years of professional legal experience, starting as an intern, then associate, for the Law Office of Gregory J. Pagano. Jones’s primary areas of practice are family law — custody, child support, divorce, grandparents’ rights, dependency court, protection from abuse — and misdemeanor and felony criminal defense in the Court of Common Pleas and federal court. She works in PA and NJ.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party and Working Families Party: Endorsed
Sarah Jones’s campaign website
Kia Ghee
Attorney Kia Ghee has spent most of her career in public and community service. Before law school, she managed Head Start and similar programs, developed programs for the City’s Department of Public Health and worked in compliance and efficiency with local health systems. Ghee has a master’s degree in public health and law degree from Drexel University. She later became a legal research and policy fellow for City Council, judicial intern for the Eastern District of PA U.S. District Court, a legal intern and law clerk.
In 2014, she joined the City of Philadelphia as a labor and employment attorney, assistant and then deputy city solicitor. In 2021, then-Mayor Jim Kenney appointed Ghee as executive director of the Commission of Human Relations, where she centered civil rights programs, created the People United to Stop Hate symposium, established the City’s social justice awards and oversaw the Fair Housing Commission. She left that post in January of 2025.
Ghee has received the Barristers’ Association Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Woman of Distinction Award.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party: Endorsed
Kia Ghee’s campaign website, Instagram, LinkedIn
Jennifer Santiago
Jennifer Santiago is an attorney in private practice and almost lifelong Philadelphian with degrees from Central (high school), Penn (undergrad), Temple (law) and St. Joe’s (Master’s in criminal justice). Her career spans working in the Domestic Violence Bureau for the Bronx District Attorney’s office, clerking for Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas, private practice in criminal and family law, and, today, representing plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury civil cases.
According to her campaign website, Santiago “regularly serves as a judge for the John S. Bradway Mock Trial Competition in Philadelphia.”
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
PA Democratic Party: Not endorsed
Jennifer A. Santiago’s campaign website, Instagram, Facebook
Joseph J. Russo
Awaiting information on this candidate.
No Republican Candidates filed for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas
JUDGE OF THE MUNICIPAL COURT
The Municipal Court is the lowest level of the judicial system, and it is where most individuals first encounter the court system. This court handles eviction proceedings, small claims, and debts up to $12,000. There are three open spots on Philadelphia’s Municipal Court.
There are three open seats for judges of the Municipal Court.
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES
Sherrie Cohen is a progressive activist and tenant rights attorney who has sued to protect Philadelphia public libraries from closure and sued big tobacco in a landmark class-action case. She is the daughter of late Philadelphia City Councilmember At-Large David Cohen and had designs on becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ member of Philadelphia City Council — but three times fell short of making it onto the general election ballot, most recently in 2023. This is her first time running for a judge seat.
Cohen has chaired the Coalition for Essential Services, co-chaired the Civil Rights Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association, co-chaired the Liberty City LGBTQ Democratic Club and served as a Democratic Party committee person and block captain.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Not Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party: Not endorsed
Working Families Party: Endorsed
No campaign website
Amanda Davidson
Amanda Davidson is a senior trial attorney who practices in the area of personal injury at Fine, Staud and Levy. Davidson represents plaintiffs in cases of workplace injury, vehicular accident, slip-and-fall, medical malpractice and workers’ compensation. Her background also includes family law, business disputes and criminal matters. For 15 years, Davidson owned and operated her own law firm in Bala Cynwyd. She is a Temple Law graduate and co-chair of the Women’s Leadership Initiative.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Recommended
Philadelphia Democratic Party and Working Families Party: Endorsed
Amanda Davidson’s campaign website, Instagram, LinkedIn
Cortez Patton
Cortez Patton has served as chief counsel to PA Senator Anthony H. Williams for a decade. In this role, Patton has worked to advance legislation to: seal nonviolent criminal records, require review and termination of extended probation terms, and establish a PA commission to determine how government can promote two-parent involvement in families. Patton is a South Philadelphia native and Drexel Law graduate.
Patton ran for Municipal Court in 2023 before withdrawing his candidacy, and ran unsuccessfully for the Court of Common Pleas in 2021.
Philadelphia Bar Association: Not Recommended
The Philadelphia Democratic Party and Working Families Party: Endorsed
Cortez Patton’s campaign website, Facebook, Instagram
No Republican Candidates filed for Judge of the Municipal Court
STATEWIDE JUDICIAL RETENTION:
After their first election, incumbent judges on PA’S three statewide appellate courts — the PA Supreme Court, PA Superior Court and PA Commonwealth Court — run for retention, a nonpartisan election where they don’t declare a party and don’t compete against any new candidates. Voters vote simply vote “Yes” or “No” to allow the justice to serve another 10-year term.
This year, five justices across three courts are up for retention elections. (You can read more about why we do this here.)
SUPREME COURT OF PA
Seven justices serve on the Supreme Court of PA. Currently, five justices are Democrats, and two are Republicans. In 2025, three Democratic justices (and no Republican justices) are up for judicial retention. This race has garnered additional attention, as the Republican Party has been encouraging voters to vote “No” on all three justices in order to remove them from the bench, in an effort to create a temporary partisan stalemate and, the GOP hopes, a new election for new judges from their party.
Christine Donohue
Justice Christine Donohue was elected to the Supreme Court in 2015, making this her first retention election. Donohue campaigned on ending bias against LGBTQ+ parents in custody matters, holding corporations accountable and protecting the rights of people who are injured. In 2020, Donohue upheld then-Governor Tom Wolf’s Covid shutdown orders and was part of the Court’s unanimous decision to uphold the results of the 2020 election.
Prior to the Supreme Court, Donohue served on Superior Court from 2007 to 2015 and was an attorney in private practice.
Donohue has received endorsements from Emily’s List, PA Building & Construction Trades Council, PA AFL-CIO and a number of other unions. The PA Bar has praised her for treating litigants respectfully and being prepared and engaged during oral arguments.
PA Bar Association: Recommended for Retention
Christine Donohue’s campaign website, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, YouTube
Kevin M. Dougherty
When Justice Kevin M. Dougherty campaigned as a Democrat for the PA Supreme Court in 2015, he leaned on his record of advocating for treatment and rehabilitation (rather than detention) for at-risk youth as a judge on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. He was, however, quick to point out that he sent teenage leaders of flash mobs who violently attacked random citizens to juvenile detention facilities.
On the Supreme Court, Dougherty has worked on a behavioral health initiative, which reforms how state courts respond to people with mental health or substance abuse issues. He represented the Court on both the Statewide Dependency Court Improvement Program and the Autism and the Courts Initiative, which seeks to ensure the state’s judicial system better accommodates people on the Autism spectrum. He joined the two Republican justices on the court in ruling that mail-in ballots need to be dated, and requiring that is not a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act — a highly contentious issue in the state that previously split the court.
Dougherty is from South Philadelphia. His brother is convicted former labor leader John J. “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, who was the top fundraiser for his 2015 campaign.
PA Bar Association: Recommended for Retention
Kevin Dougherty’s campaign website, Facebook, X, Instagram, Bluesky, Youtube
David Wecht
Like his ballot mates, Justice David Wecht was elected to the Court in 2015 as part of a Democratic sweep. During this campaign, Wecht is leaning on his record of preventing partisan gerrymandering, upholding Pennsylvanians’ constitutional right to a clean environment and protecting women’s access to abortions. He previously served as a judge on the Pennsylvania Superior Court and the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
Wecht campaigned on improving judicial transparency in 2015. While on the Supreme Court, he authored the controversial decision overturning Bill Cosby’s conviction. In a 2024 case, he joined dissenting Republicans in arguing that provisional ballots should not be counted. He’s received endorsements from Nurses for America, the Fraternal Order of Police, IBEW and other unions.
PA Bar Association: Recommended for Retention
David Wecht’s campaign website, Facebook, X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Youtube
SUPERIOR COURT OF PA
The 15-justice Superior Court of PA is one of the state’s two intermediate appellate courts (the other is Commonwealth Court, below) that hear cases before they can move to the PA Supreme Court. Primarily based in Harrisburg, the Court mostly hears appeals on criminal and civil cases in brief form — as opposed to oral arguments from the Commonwealth’s Courts of Common Pleas and also rules on matters involving children and families.
There is one Superior Court judge up for judicial retention this year.
Alice Beck Dubow
Judge Alice Beck Dubow was elected to the Superior Court as a Democrat in 2015 after eight years on Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas. Beck Dubow practiced law for more than 20 years and held roles as deputy general counsel for Drexel University and as Divisional Deputy City Solicitor. She clerked for Judge Edward G. Biester after Penn Law School.
In her time on the Court, Beck Dubow has ruled that a speeding driver who killed three people, including a two-year-old, while fleeing police should be resentenced to life in prison and that a former school policeman who sexually assaulted four students should also serve life in prison. She is married to Rob Beck Dubow, the City of Philadelphia’s finance director, and her mother, Phyllis Beck, was the first woman to serve on the Superior Court.
PA Bar Association: Recommended for Retention
Alice Beck Dubow’s campaign website, Facebook, X, Instagram and Bluesky
COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PA
Made up of nine justices, the Commonwealth Court is PA’s second intermediate appellate court. It hears cases on administrative and civil public law, including those on public sector legal questions and government regulation and cases involving statewide elections. Commonwealth Court has original jurisdiction over election cases and those where someone has filed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth — a rarity for appellate courts.
There is one Commonwealth Court judge up for judicial retention this year.
Michael Wojcik
Judge Michael Wojcik was elected as a Democrat to the Commonwealth Court in 2015 after a law career in municipal, tax and assessment, election, civil rights and personal injury. He previously served as Allegheny County Solicitor and Solicitor to the Allegheny County Airport Authority.
In 2023, Wojcik disagreed that the Court had the jurisdiction to determine the constitutionality of the four articles of impeachment the state House approved against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (who is up for reelection this year). The opinion marked a reversal of Wojcik’s previous opinion, when he joined four other justices who found the impeachment legally insufficient. The PA Supreme Court later tossed the case because it had improperly stretched across two legislative sessions.
PA Bar Association: Recommended for Retention
Michael Wojcik’s campaign website, Facebook, X, Instagram and Bluesky
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