Pennsylvanians will vote on a new state Supreme Court justice on Nov. 7 in what will be the latest test of the ongoing political fallout from the U.S. Supreme Courts June 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which ended the national right to an abortion.

Since the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization voided national abortion rights, leaving it to states, Democrats and their allies have leaned hard on the issue of abortion in races up and down the ballot. Judicial races have received particular attention, especially in swing states, as state courts have now become the primary battleground for fights over the legality of abortion.

The race in Pennsylvania, between Democratic nominee and current Superior Court Judge Daniel McCaffery and Republican nominee and current Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Carolyn Carluccio, acts as a test case to indicate how well the anti-Dobbs message is still working ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

This race could be a precursor to see if abortion and democracy drive voter performance, said J.J. Abbott, executive director of Commonwealth Communications and a spokesperson for the independent campaign effort to elect McCaffery.

In the 2022 midterm elections, abortion was front and center in Democrats campaign to beat back an expected red wave that would sweep Republicans into office across the country. But that wave never broke as Republicans barely won control of the U.S. House, lost a seat in the Senate and lost key races in a number of swing states. That included losing the governors race and the state assembly in Pennsylvania.

The race between McCaffery and Carluccio is set to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Chief Justice Max Baer in 2022. The outcome will not determine control of the court, as Democrats currently hold a 4-2 advantage even with Baers seat vacant, but with two retention elections for Democratic justices coming up in 2025, it could either set the stage for a Republican takeover or help solidify Democratic control for years to come.