While spending for the open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court set a record at $19,5 million, the money allocated for the two seats on the state’s Superior Court was nothing to sneeze at.

The four candidates for the two open seats on one of the state’s intermediate appellate courts combined to spend over $2.6 million.

The Superior Court is often the final arbiter of legal disputes in the Commonwealth. The Supreme Court may grant a petition to review a decision of the Superior Court, but most petitions are denied and the ruling of the Superior Court stands. Cases are usually heard by panels of three judges sitting in Philadelphia, Harrisburg or Pittsburgh, but may also be heard en banc by nine judges.

If one only looks at money allocated to the race, it is clear that Democrats placed a heavy emphasis on capturing the two seats. Jill Beck’s campaign spent over $1.38 million, while Timika Lane’s campaign spent just shy of $800,000 for a combined total of $2.18 million to win the spots on the court.

Republicans combined to spend less than $450,000 combined between Maria Battista’s ($225,000) and Harry Smail’s ($223,000) campaigns.

Beck was able to raise $1.1 million thanks in part to support from the Committee for a Better Tomorrow ($125,000) – a registered bipartisan political action trust, established by the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association – the Pennsylvania Association for Justice ($50,000) and its PA Judicial PAC ($31,000) and numerous labor unions. She also received more than $213,000 from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

Lane raised just under $850,000, including $225,000 in donations from the Committee for a Better Tomorrow and significant support from labor unions as well.

Battista’s campaign raised about $267,000 with its main support coming from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund ($50,000) and $13,800 from Lancaster County for Qualified Judges.

Smail’s campaign raised less than half of that total ($121,653) with $22,779 coming from PA/fwd PAC.