A handful of progressive groups have endorsed Allegheny County judicial candidates committed to criminal justice system reforms – reprising an effort four years ago to reshape the local court system.
Eight seats are open on the county’s Court of Common Pleas — representing nearly 20% of the court’s bench. That’s an opportunity for voters to change the everyday practice of law, said Miracle Jones, director of legislative affairs at 1Hood Power.
Judges “who are sitting on the bench need to understand what the impact of the law is,” she said.
There are more than 20 candidates seeking those spots, and 1 Hood Power joined with six other progressive groups to endorse eight candidates.
The endorsed candidates are: current judges Quita Bridges and Alyssa Cowan, both of whom were appointed to fill vacancies on the bench; public defender Lauren Leiggi; state House Rep. Dan Miller; Magisterial District Judges Matt Rudzki and Craig Stephens; and local lawyers Amanda Green-Hawkins and Amy Mathieu.
Unite PAC, Pennsylvania United, Alliance for Police Accountability, Pennsylvania Working Families Party, Straight Ahead, and One Pennsylvania also signed on.
The slate reflects “the diversity of our county” and is meant to ensure that the court “continues to protect our rights and follows the law, even when the courts are facing threats from the highest levels of government,” the organizations said in a statement.
Jones said the groups prioritized community involvement and past experience using restorative and transformative justice, such as mediation and pro-bono work and victim advocacy, support and outreach. The candidates all showed an understanding of the consequences their rulings have, she added.
“What does it mean when you sentence somebody to 25 years to 50 years to life in prison? What is the impact that has on the community and what can you do … to reduce the amount of people in the carceral system?” she said.
“Everyone has a different interpretation of what a judge should be, what a court should be, but for us, we're looking at people who are going to look at these [experiences in] courtrooms as either the best day or the worst day of somebody's life and take that very seriously.”
A similar progressive coalition advanced their first “Slate of 8” in 2021, endorsing candidates who supported alternatives to prison and jail time when possible and opposed the use of cash bail. That effort was largely successful: five members of the slate are now Common Pleas judges.
The initial slate was meant in part to provide an alternative to the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsements and Allegheny County Bar Association recommendations. The party’s picks have been faulted in the past for overlooking progressive candidates and candidates of color. But party endorsement has long been seen as key for low-information races like those for judgeships.
Though this year’s slate shares some overlap with ACDC’s endorsements and ACBA’s recommendations, the metrics used to choose candidates were vastly different, Jones said, prioritizing experience and judicial philosophy over time served in office.
The political environment has changed since the 2021 effort to rally progressive support behind local judicial candidates. Donald Trump is in the White House, after a campaign which often seemed to feed, and stoke, public-safety fears after a COVID-era spike in crime rates. In 2021, Mayor Ed Gainey won election amid discontent with how the city handled Black Lives Matter protests; today Gainey’s his bid for a second term is often confronted with fears about the city’s shrinking police force.
But Jones said she was hopeful that progressive values would still win out in overwhelmingly Democratic Allegheny County. Local judicial elections have taken on more importance since Trump resumed attacks on the judiciary, she added.
“Our judges are our first line of defense to protect our rights,” she said. “We're going to really need good judges on the bench who are going to uphold the Constitution, who are not going to discriminate against our community members, and who are going to uphold justice.”
Pennsylvania is one of only seven states that chooses state and local judges through partisan elections.
Court of Common Pleas judges serve 10-year terms before getting a yes-or-no vote on retention. Depending on their assignment, they may hear criminal or civil cases, as well as divorce and custody cases. Judges are allowed to run on both parties’ tickets simultaneously. This year, six candidates filed to appear on both Democratic and Republican ballots in the primary, including Cowan and Miller.
The primary election is May 20.
