How Allegheny County judicial campaigns raised more than $2M in 2021

More than $2 million has flowed through the crowded campaign to stock the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Khalif Ali, the director of the good government group Common Cause Pennsylvania, said of the self-funded campaigns that “the most glaring problem is the fact that not everyone can do that.” “The judge that can fund his or her own campaign with $100,000 or more certainly doesn’t understand or can empathize with the story of someone who has lived in poverty their entire life,” he said. “There could be a struggle to represent the interest of someone in poverty.”