Democrat wins Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacancy

Democrat Daniel McCaffery won an open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, preserving a Democratic majority in the judicial body that has produced multiple critical election-related decisions in the battleground state.

McCaffery won Tuesday with 53% of the vote to Republican Carolyn Carluccio's 47% to fill the vacancy left by Supreme Court Justice Max Baer, a Democrat who passed away last fall, according to unofficial results from the Pennsylvania Department of State website.

The seven-member bench will be composed of two Republican and Democratic members, all of whom serve 10-year terms before being forced to run for reelection to stay on the court.

McCaffery, who is a judge on a statewide appellate court, campaigned on defending rights, including those related to abortion, which he said the U.S. Supreme Court is attacking, according to The Associated Press.

"It’s something that really caught fire on the campaign trail, and I think a lot [of it] had to do with the more recent decisions at the U.S. Supreme Court and the scandals at the U.S. Supreme Court," McCaffery said. "People were really taking notice."

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