Pennsylvania voters have decided to retain three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices who appeared on the ballot Tuesday. That would preserve the Democrats' five-two majority on the Commonwealth's high court. Assuming the unofficial results hold, Justices Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht won ten-year terms, while Christine Donohue will serve until 2027 when she'll reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 for justices. Alice Beck Dubow earned another term on the state Superior Court after pulling in 62 percent of the vote in her retention election. In the retention vote for Commonwealth Court, Judge Michael Wojcik also easily earned another term with 62 percent of Pennsylvania voters giving him that job again.
Voters in both Lehigh and Northampton counties have chosen new county executives and both will remain in Democrat hands. Lehigh County voters have elected Josh Siegel by more than 22,000 votes over Republican Roger MacLean. In Northampton County, Tara Zrinski has defeated Tom Giovanni by 16,000 votes to become county executive there. The Allentown's mayoral race was not close as incumbent Democrat Matt Tuerk easily defeated Ed Zucal by roughly 7400 votes to earn a second term. Despite drug charges hanging over his head, Lehigh County Commissioner Zachary Cole-Borghi has won another term, easily defeating his challenger by 5000 votes Tuesday.
We don't yet have official voter turnout numbers, but Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt 'does' know how many people voted via mail-in ballots. "Registered voters requested more than 1.13 million mail ballots for this election. As of 8pm Tuesday, more than 80 percent of those ballots had been returned," Schmidt says. Final voter turnout numbers should be available later this week.
Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill will succeed Democrat Phil Murphy as the next governor of New Jersey. Sherrill easily defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli and after her victory, she spoke to supporters. "I know your hopes. I know your dreams. Serving you is worth any tough fight I have to take on," Sherrill said.
Heavy smoke was seen billowing from a church in Bangor, Northampton County early Wednesday morning. Crews responded to the report of a fire at Gethsemane Ministries shortly before 6:30 a.m., according to county dispatchers.
One of the top pass catchers in the NFL is still with his team. Eagles star AJ Brown was not moved before Tuesday's trading deadline. General manager Howie Roseman said the receiver is an important part of the team and he "wears a 'C' for a reason." Brown was the subject of trade rumors following several cryptic social media posts this season.