Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice leaves Democratic Party over antisemitism concerns
A Pennsylvania state Supreme Court judge said Monday that he is leaving the Democratic Party because of what he sees as a rise in antisemitism among mainstream party figures.
Judge David Wecht, who was elected to the court as a Democrat in 2015, said in a statement that he changed his party affiliation to independent because “bowing to Jew hatred” had become disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.
“I can’t stand this anymore. That’s why I can’t stand it,” Wecht said. “I am no longer registered with any political party.”
In his statement, Wecht said he had long felt that antisemitism was most influential on the fringes of the right; especially after the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where Wecht was married and was a former board member. But since 2018, he said, “the same hatred has been growing on the left.”
“It has gradually moved from the fringes to the mainstream. It is the duty of all good people to fight this virus and do it before it is too late,” he said.
Wecht dealt a sharp blow to Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who was the favorite to win the party’s primary after former Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race.
In October, Platner tattoo of a widely recognized Nazi symbol While serving in the US Army in Croatia. Platner denied knowledge of the symbol’s Nazi heritage and addressed the issue days after publicly revealing the tattoo.
“In the quarter-century since then, the Democratic Party has changed,” Wecht said. “Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks on synagogues, and other hateful anti-Semitic insults and acts are minimized, ignored, and even indulged.”
Wecht’s party switch will have minimal impact on the balance of power on the state’s Supreme Court. After Wecht lost, four Democratic justices occupied the seven-seat seat.
Wecht won election last November to a 10-year term.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
