HARRISBURG, PA — It was an off-year election that just passed; normally that means more Republicans turn out to the polls than Democrats and thus Republicans win more state-wide races. But that was not the case for the state-wide races for judgeships this year, which were swept by Democrats.

Going into the election, Democrats spent far more than Republicans on campaign ads, and they captured all state-wide seats including three Supreme Court seats. That gives the high court a five-to-two split with Democrats in the majority.

Democrats will likely still be in the majority in 2021, when the next redistricting process takes place, after the 2020 census.

Some analysts say there was a higher-than-usual turnout because there was a recognition by many Democrats that the Supreme Court will appoint a tie-breaking member to the commission that will draw the next set of election district boundaries, and the court may also rule on any challenges to the new districts.

Many analysts say the current districts were drawn giving a decided advantage to Republican lawmakers, in a state where registered Democrats far outnumber registered Republicans.

Republicans now hold historic majorities in the state Senate and House, and according to some, that was only possible because of aggressive gerrymandering. For instance, an article on www.billmoy ers.com about the Pennsylvania districts in the elections for members of the House of Representative in Washington, an article said, “In Pennsylvania, one state in which the GOP drew the Congressional districts in a brazenly partisan way, Democratic candidates collected 44% of the vote, yet Democratic candidates won only five House seats out of 18. In other words, Democrats secured only 27% of Pennsylvania’s congressional seats despite winning nearly half of the votes.”

The gerrymandering turns out some tortured-looking districts. For instance, Congressman Tom Marino’s district, which includes Wayne and Pike counties, looks like it was drawn specifically to avoid the population centers of Scranton and Wilkes Barre, which have a high number of registered Democrats. Those cities, incidentally, are represented in the U.S. House by Democrat Rep. Matt Cartwright.

The races for the Supreme Court seats were the most expensive judicial races in the history of the country, and one reason is that partisan players understood the importance of achieving a Democratic majority on the court.

State lawmakers have the responsibility of drawing not only state district lines but also the lines of Congressional districts. Many analysts say that because of gerrymandering by Republicans in 2012, the Democrats don’t stand a chance of regaining the House of Representatives until the next redistricting process plays out. Next time around in Pennsylvania Democrats will probably have the advantage.