In 2025, as Pennsylvania’s most contentious judicial retention campaign ever burned across the state, Pittsburgh native David N. Wecht was one of three Supreme Court justices fighting to remain on the bench.
All three were Democrats. That is no longer true.
On Monday, Wecht announced he had changed his voter registration to independent, citing what he sees as growing tolerance for antisemitism within the Democratic Party.
That is an obvious issue for Wecht. He is Jewish. He was married at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, which was torn down in 2024 following the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Wecht’s mother spent her earliest years living under Nazi occupation in Norway.
It is just the latest example of politics tearing apart the stitches that bind people together.
It is also one way it is happening in the Democratic Party — but a very different one than Pennsylvania has seen to date.
While Wecht is expressing his disagreement through separation from the party — but not necessarily from its goals — other notable examples in Pennsylvania have happened in reverse.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, has repeatedly frustrated members of his own party with support for Israel, criticism of progressive activism and willingness to work with Republicans on issues like border security.
Yet while some Republicans have openly encouraged him to leave the Democratic Party, Fetterman rejected the idea this week in a Washington Post op-ed.
“Plus, I’d be a terrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats,” he wrote.
Fetterman gets the most attention, but he is not alone. Other Democrats in Pennsylvania also have made political realignments — some temporarily, some permanently.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. lost his Democratic primary in 2023 but garnered enough write-in votes on the Republican ticket to rally to a general election win that fall. Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert is a Republican now, but he was elected to the office as a Democrat in 2019. He left the Democratic Party in 2020, saying he felt disenfranchised.
Is that what Allegheny County is now seeing with Council President Pat Catena?
The Democratic councilman is running in the 45th District state House primary against Brittany Bloam. Campaign flyers positioned Catena to the right of Bloam with a common Republican talking point about transgender athletes. Catena is now being pushed to resign his council seat over the controversy.
At a meeting Tuesday, dozens turned out to voice concerns. Catena said he had “some soul-searching to do.”
It all points to a confusing jumble of party politics.
On paper, at least until last week, Wecht, Fetterman and Catena were all marching in the same Democratic parade. In practice, they represent a much more diverse spectrum of what being a Democrat in Pennsylvania looks like.
That’s not a bad thing. Marching in lockstep isn’t good. Elected officials need to bring their own ideas to the bench or the Senate or the county courthouse.
But it does prompt closer attention from voters, who need to know exactly whom they are voting for and precisely what they are getting in return.