In many ways, last Tuesday’s election was a story of pages turned (emerging visions), and pages referenced (the value of institutional knowledge). But its most important revelation was the story of blank pages of the future that will need to be filled.
A sign is posted in support of retaining Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices in the November election, in Berwyn, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
By Amy V. Simmons
Amid social media swirl, AI and hype from a growing independent media infrastructure, the 2025 General Election held last Tuesday was able to harness the energies of both continuity and change, locally and nationally.
This was especially apparent in Pennsylvania’s judicial retention races, from the Supreme Court to the Court of Common Pleas. One of the most challenging periods in the nearly 250-year history of the United States has been marked by a number of federal and state court cases.
That said, in all cases, a judge’s most important role is to remain fair, impartial and independent, despite the amount of power they yield, Commonwealth Court Judge Stella Tsai, who won her retention race, said.
The Commonwealth Court should consider all of these factors when deciding critical election related issues, Tsai said on Election Day.
“The court that I’ve been running for — the Commonwealth Court — will deal with voting rights, free and fair elections, and making sure that each vote counts,” Tsai said. “That’s really important to me, and one of the reasons I’m running for this seat.”
Superior Court Judge Alice Beck Dubow-Photo: https://www.pacourts.us
Superior Court Judge Alice Beck Dubow said that as she and Tsai campaigned throughout the Commonwealth this year, speaking to voters and other individuals, there was a lot of anger expressed about what has been going on in Washington this year. She hoped that this anger would lead to higher participation in a traditionally low turnout election, which appeared to happen in Philadelphia on Election Day.
“I really hope that will be reflected in people’s understanding that they need to come out to vote, and hopefully people will come out to vote, even though it’s a judicial election,” Dubow, who also won her retention race Tuesday, said.
It all starts with realizing the importance of participation at the local level, Dubow said.
Commonwealth Court Judge Stella Tsai–Photo: Judge Stella Tsai for Commonwealth Court
“Although it doesn’t impact directly upon what’s going on in Washington, it will impact people’s lives,” she said.
The Obama Generation takes the stage
Every governmental body goes through a generational shift, where young leaders begin to emerge as their older members begin to retire or move onto post-political pursuits. While a difference of style or vision is always the subtext — even if the language can be coarse or rife with stereotypes — for the most part, these transitions have been productive and respectful, with a healthy regard for the elders who have paved the way.
They always reflect the shifts in society around them – up to and including those who want to resist these changes at all costs, and those who want to blow the whole thing up and start from scratch.
As this year’s political races have shown us, is that everyone involved — from emerging leaders to their elder counterparts — are going to have to figure all of this out to take on the Constitutional crisis the nation is immersed in. No one can afford to hunker down, deploy litmus tests or disregard the voices representing what constituents really want. Anyone deploying this strategy has found themselves on the losing side of history.
Taking their lead from one of the most popular elder statesmen, former President Barack Obama, several of the new voices that moved into leadership last Tuesday have embraced what may seem to some as anachronistic – the power of shoe leather politics, full of both practical and transformational ideas and one-on-one interactions with voters and constituents.
The irony regarding this somewhat traditional approach is that it has been suppressed so many times in recent years by PACS, corporate influence, and dark money, it appears brand new in many ways.
In particular, the acknowledgement of a “broad-church” view of the Democratic Party — where people have realized that there is no “one ideological size fits all” approach in a nation the size of the United States — is slowly emerging as a feature, not a bug.
Transitions are never linear
Still, the fact remains — in all walks of life, generational and ideological shifts in society, especially in democracies, have never been straightforward. They are pretty messy.
And when it comes to the current political scene in the US, it appears to be even more complex as several generations are involved in this process – as voters, as leaders and as constituents.
That is because real life — especially when it comes down to the modern political scene — isn’t a scripted Netflix series. Everyone does not win a prize. No Deus ex machina or generational saviors that are going to “restore order” or “shake things up” and then all will be well.
And, as in past times of turbulent transition, there is no painless way to do this… or any silent way. It is an “all hands-on deck” type of thing – whether those hands want to be on it or not, or whether some hands refuse to be on that deck when other hands are present.
It always comes down to one cold, hard fact: everyone must do the work – no exceptions. Resting on laurels or bomb tossing alone is not going to cut it.
Just how this current sausage-making process ends up — one that has been exacerbated by an authoritarian romp through the nation and a full-blown Constitutional crisis — remains to be seen.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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