The Pennsylvania Judicial Center, home to the Commonwealth Court, is seen on Feb. 21, 2023, in Harrisburg. Associated Press file photo

HARRISBURG — Republicans put Pennsylvania and Wisconsin back in the win column in the 2024 presidential race, and they’re hoping that momentum carries over to contests this year that will determine whether their state Supreme Courts retain left-leaning majorities or flip to conservative control.

The outcome can be pivotal in deciding cases related to abortion, election disputes, voting laws and redistricting for Congress and their state legislatures.

Money is pouring in and expected to eclipse the $70 million-plus combined spent on the states’ Supreme Court races two years ago.

The Wisconsin race has caught the attention of Elon Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO who is a close ally of President Donald Trump, and has surfaced tensions related to Trump’s pardons of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“For both sides, these races seem much, much higher profile than they used to be,” said J.J. Abbott, who runs Commonwealth Communications, a progressive advocacy group in Pennsylvania.

State Supreme Court races have become some of the most expensive and bitterly fought over the past few years, given how central those courts are in deciding divisive issues.

Republicans intent on flipping the courts

Republicans are optimistic after Trump won both states in November.

The courts there have played major roles since both states have divided governments, with Democratic governors and legislatures that are either fully or partially under Republican control.

In the past couple years alone, liberal majorities on both states’ high courts handed victories to Democrats in cases involving the boundaries of Wisconsin’s legislative districts and Pennsylvania’s congressional districts.

Victories for Democrats or their allies in voting rights cases also included overturning Wisconsin’s ban on absentee ballot drop boxes and ensuring Pennsylvanians can vote by provisional ballot if their mail ballot is rejected.

Musk cited the Wisconsin drop box ruling, which came last July, in a message posted this past week on his social platform X: “Very important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!”

A recount, nonpartisan audit and report by a conservative law firm all affirmed that there was no widespread fraud in Wisconsin in 2020, when absentee ballot boxes were in use, and that Democrat Joe Biden won the state’s presidential contest.

The Democratic-supported candidate in Wisconsin’s officially nonpartisan race quickly seized on Musk’s involvement to make a fundraising pitch.

Liberals also were highlighting comments from the Republican-backed candidate earlier this month saying those who stormed the U.S. Capitol never got “a fair shot” in court. Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who was on duty during the attack, plans news conferences in Wisconsin on Tuesday to criticize the remarks critical of the prosecutions.

In the upcoming races, Democrats say they will portray the state high courts as a bulwark against the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Trump administration and a GOP-controlled Congress.

The issue of abortion rights is expected to play a major role this year, as it did in high court races last year and in 2023’s state Supreme Court campaigns in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Those races took place the year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended nearly a half-century of a constitutional right to abortion.

Big spending expected

In Pennsylvania, November’s general election will feature three Democrats running to retain their seats, putting Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the line. All three justices — Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht — face a “yes” or “no” vote to win another 10-year term.

Pending in Pennsylvania courts are cases that challenge laws limiting the use of Medicaid to cover the cost of abortions and requiring certain mail-in ballots to be disqualified.

In 2023, business associations, political party campaign arms, Planned Parenthood, partisan advocacy groups, labor unions, lawyers’ groups, environmental organizations and wealthy GOP donors, including Richard Uihlein and Jeffrey Yass, pushed spending above $70 million in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The Wisconsin race alone topped $51 million, breaking national records for spending on a judicial race.

Wisconsin’s race this year is expected to cost even more, with the two candidates already raising more than was brought in at this point in 2023.

Schimel, in an interview last year on WISN-AM, said outside groups “are committed to making sure we take back the majority on this court” and that he was confident “we’re going to have the money to do the things we have to do to win this.”

Spending exceeded $22 million in Pennsylvania’s 2023 contest won by the Democrat, whose campaign focused on attacking rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority.