When Pennsylvanians head to the polls this year, 18 counties will vote for District Attorney and 32 will vote for Sheriff.
According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, Pennsylvania ranks 28 out of 50 states in terms of safety and ranked especially low on Emergency Preparedness. According to the ACLU, “solutions that prevent crime and improve people’s lives” were two key issues for voters when deciding in the 2024 election, especially for Pennsylvania voters.
Eighteen counties around Pennsylvania will vote in 2025 for District Attorney in a year where criminal justice and policing issues are expected to be top of mind. Thirty-two counties will also vote to elect new Sheriffs. Pennsylvanians will also have the opportunity to vote for three Democratic State Supreme Court justices up for retention in 2025.
In Pennsylvania, justices on the State Supreme Court serve an initial 10-year term belonging to a political party and are then up for retention votes after. A retention vote is meant to be an apolitical way of holding justices accountable for their voting records and does not require the candidate to participate in any campaigning against justices of the opposite party. Justice Christine L. Donahue, Kevin M. Dougherty and David N. Wecht – all three Democrats – are up for retention after having first been elected in 2015. If a judge loses retention, a special election is then held the next election year to replace them.
Most notably, Larry Krasner – the current District Attorney of Philadelphia – is expected to fight for a third term against longtime Municipal Court Judge Patrick Dugan. Krasner is known as being politically progressive on rising crime in Philadelphia. Krasner survived a 2022 impeachment effort led by Pennsylvania House Republicans.
Thirty-two counties are also voting to elect new Sheriffs, a position considered the chief law enforcement officer of Pennsylvania. This includes Allegheny County, the home of the state’s second most populous city of Pittsburgh, as well as Erie, the fifth largest.
