☑️  Tuesday. It’s day 127 of the state budget impasse and day 35 of the federal government shutdown. And it’s time to vote.

????️  In Today’s PoliticsPA Playbook. The Supreme Court Retention Vote Is Here. Why November SNAP Benefits May Not Be Available For Several Weeks or Months. Don’t Overlook Down-Ballot Races. Foods That Make You Smell More Attractive. 

????  Your Morning Pick-Me-Up. Vote For Me. Chicago

PA Weather
☀️  Erie | Sunny, 55
☀️  Harrisburg | Sunny, 61
☀️  Scranton | Sunny, 58

PA Sports
????  Sixers (5-1) | Tue at Chicago
????  Penguins (8-4-2) | Toronto 3-4 | Thu vs. Washington
????  Flyers (6-5-1) | Tue at Montreal

????️  Breaking. Former vice president Dick Cheney, 84, died Monday from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.

☑️  What’s Happening Today. Follow our social media sites on Twitter and Bluesky for the latest election results from around the Commonwealth.

????  What We’re Hearing. Roll Call lists Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-07) as the fourth-most vulnerable House member entering the 2026 election cycle.

????  The PoliticsPA Playbook is compiled by Steve Ulrich. To read in your browser, click here. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe for free.

Top Story

1.   Pennsylvania Could Keep Its Democratic High Court Majority or Get Partisan Deadlock on the Bench

“Pennsylvania voters on Tuesday will decide whether to keep a Democratic majority on the state’s highest court — the center of pivotal fights over voting rights, redistricting and elections — or potentially plunge the court into a partisan deadlock in a premier presidential battleground.

The outcome will affect how the state Supreme Court could again be called on to settle partisan battles over election laws ahead of next year’s midterm contests.” (AP)

Elsewhere

2025 Election Preview: PA Supreme Court Retention. “Simply put, it’s one of the most-closely watched contests of the 2025 election cycle in the country. Will three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices be retained for another 10-year term on the bench? Yes or no.” (PoliticsPA)

NYC Mayor’s Race Draws Attention, But California, Pennsylvania Votes Tuesday Could Shape National Politics. “Off-year elections in the U.S. can’t compete with the number of November races held in midterm and presidential years. But in 2025, the stakes are more considerable than in the past.” (CBC)

Experts Weigh in on Critical but Under-the-Radar Race in Pennsylvania. “Three Democrat justices of the seven-person court are up for a retention vote, and the results could impact the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.” (Daily Signal)

A Year Ahead of 2026 Midterms, Trump Backs Scott Perry, Rob Bresnahan, and Other Pennsylvania Republicans. “In a stream of posts Sunday night to Truth Social, the president’s social media platform, Donald Trump endorsed Republican candidates for U.S. Congressional elections in 2026 in Pennsylvania and other states. Every Republican in Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation received an endorsement, except U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

State

2.  Why November SNAP Benefits May Not Be Available For Several Weeks or Months

“The Trump administration’s plan to partially fund SNAP benefits won’t happen quickly.

Why it matters: The Department of Agriculture expects states to need weeks, if not months, to distribute benefits to the millions of Americans on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to a court filing.

Driving the news: In that same filing, the government said the USDA will comply with a court order to partially pay SNAP benefits by using $4.65 billion in contingency funding to cover roughly half of benefits for all eligible households.” (Axios)

Elsewhere

2025 Election Preview: Superior Court. “In the eighth in our series previewing the 2025 municipal general election, we focus on the vacancy on the 15-member Superior Court – one of the state’s two intermediate appellate courts — that handles both criminal and civil cases that have been appealed from the Court of Common Pleas.” (PoliticsPA)

Department of State Shares Important Information Ahead of Municipal Election. “Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt encouraged Pennsylvanians planning to vote at the polls in person to review the comprehensive voter information at vote.pa.gov ahead of today’s election.” (PoliticsPA)

Director Describes Provisional Ballot Process. “Lawrence County’s director of elections is advising any voter who applied for a mail-in ballot that if by some chance he or she did not receive the ballot by mail or no longer has it, the voter can still vote by provisional ballot Tuesday.” (New Castle News)

Fiscal Fallout: Pennsylvania Funding Has Spiked 64% Under Last Two Governors. “The Keystone State’s budgets have increased three-and-a-half times more during the last two Democratic administrations than the previous Republican one. When a Democrat is governor, state funding has swelled 6.3 % a year on average. When a Republican has been governor, the comparable figure has been 1.8%.” (The Center Square)

Around The Commonwealth

3.   The Trump Effect

“Berks County is one of the places that helped Mr. Trump return to the White House last Nov. 5. It gave him more than 55 per cent of its vote as he captured the country’s most populous swing state after losing it four years earlier.

A place of about 430,000 people nestled between steep hills and deciduous forests, Berks County has long navigated the vagaries of the changing industrial economy, the sort of location the President references when he talks about restoring American greatness. In recent decades, it has also become a magnet for Latino immigration, a poster child for revitalization by people born elsewhere.

A world away from the country’s power centres, the confluence of these two currents places this county somewhere near the heart of the American experience.” (Globe and Mail)

Elsewhere

All Eyes On Pittsburgh Mayor and Supreme Court Retention, But Don’t Overlook Down-Ballot Races. “Voters across the country will head to the polls today, and while this is an off-year election, the results of some key races will affect not just local communities but the national political landscape for years to come.” (WESA)

Life After Congress: Ryan Costello’s Core Memories Include Shutdowns, Redistricting. “There’s a book on former Rep. Ryan Costello’s bookshelf in Pennsylvania that he keeps meaning to read — a 450-page treatise on lawmaking called “The Congressman: His Work as He Sees It,” by Charles L. Clapp. Costello, 49, a Republican who served Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District from 2015 through 2019, sometimes muses about what a Part Two of that book would look like.” (Roll Call)

This Bucks County School District Says It Will Have to Shut Down Jan. 30 If PA’s Budget Deadlock Continues. “Morrisville Superintendent Andrew Doster will discuss the possible closure with students in third through twelfth grade directly “in a developmentally appropriate way” on Wednesday, he said.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Editorial

4.  What Do You Think?

• Off-Year Elections Are Where Democracy Really Shines | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Duty Doesn’t Wait For Big Election years | TribLIVE
• Your Vote Is Important In Every Election | Reading Eagle
• This Election Matters, Especially to Nonvoters | Adriana E. Ramírez
• Why AI’s Reckless Pursuit of Profit Threatens Philly | Joa Rojas 
• Senator McCormick’s Stand on Mifepristone Is A Step Toward Greater Safety | Ted Meehan
• It’s Time to Govern Responsibly — Not Spend Recklessly | U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker and state Rep. Joe D’Orsie

1 Thing

5.  The Foods That Make You Smell More Attractive

“Each one of us has a unique scent profile, like a fingerprint. Everything from our personality type – such as extroversion, dominance and neuroticism – to our mood and health affects the way we smell.

Many of these factors are out of our control – but not all. A significant influence on the way we smell is the food we eat. Not only does this affect our overall aroma, but also how we are perceived, including how attractive we appear to others, according to a small but growing body of research.” (BBC)

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