See how your area voted in Centre County’s record-turnout municipal election
Centre County had its highest municipal election turnout in 32 years Tuesday in a romp for the Democratic Party.
Much like elsewhere in the nation, Centre County voters delivered Democratic candidates and causes comfortable margins despite its new Republican voter registration edge.
Long a blue island in Central Pennsylvania, Centre County nearly voted for Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election, and in the municipal election the year prior, it only delivered the top of the Democratic ticket a four-point victory.
Tuesday, the top statewide Democratic candidate, Brandon Neuman, bested his Republican opponent by 16 points in Centre County on his way to securing a seat on the Pennsylvania Superior Court.
The unusually contentious judicial retention elections, in which a slate of Democratic state judges faced a multimillion-dollar GOP push to oust them from the bench, ended with the jurists retaining their seats.
The Democratic tailwinds seemed to lift candidates down the ballot, as well. In the sleepy race for jury commissioner — in which both candidates keep their seats regardless of the outcome — Democrat Shelley Thompson got nearly 58% of the vote, according to preliminary returns, a nine-point increase from an identical contest in 2021. Democrats also appear to have picked up council seats in the conservative boroughs of Philipsburg and Milesburg, the former at the expense of a Republican incumbent.
See how your area voted in a handful of competitive elections.
Superior Court judge
Brandon Neuman, a judge from Washington County, easily bested his Republican opponent in Centre County, capturing 57% of the vote. Statewide, Neuman got around 56%.
As is typical for Democrats, Neuman ran up the score in State College and the surrounding area, plus Bellefonte. He also won two of three precincts in Philipsburg, which is historically Republican-leaning.
Commonwealth Court judge
Philadelphia judge Stella Tsai fared about 1% better than her Democratic counterpart atop the ticket, seemingly because of the lack of a “Liberal” candidate on the ballot. Like Neuman, she put up huge numbers in the typical blue areas, but also did slightly worse in heavily Republican areas.
Jury commissioner
The Democratic candidate for Centre County jury commissioner, Shelley Thompson, got similar margins to the Democrats up the ballot. However, she did considerably better in the conservative, low-population Mountaintop Region.
Thompson, who secured her second term Tuesday, hails from Burnside Township and had been an elected auditor there for 20 years. Hope Miller, the Republican candidate, was elected to her fifth term.
State court retention
Every sitting justice and judge easily retained their seats, nabbing around 61% of the vote in Centre County. Where they got those votes was so similar between them that we’re not including maps except for Supreme Court Justice Christine Donohue. (For those truly interested, these are the maps for Kevin Dougherty, David Wecht, Alice Dubow and Michael Wojcik.)
The most conservative corners of the county largely voted against retention. In past retention elections, most municipalities would vote in favor regardless of the party of the jurist, showing just how influential GOP messaging on the issue was this year.
County court retention
Democratic Common Pleas Judge Katie Oliver had the best night of the jurists up for retention, getting majority “yes” votes in several municipalities that voted “no” for the statewide judges. Unlike the higher courts, the Court of Common Pleas usually does not hear politically sensitive cases.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 12:04 PM.
