A Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice announced Monday that he was exiting the Democratic Party, citing what he perceived as mounting antisemitism.
Justice David Wecht said he is now an independent voter because antisemitism, which he said had always been rife within the extreme political right, was becoming mainstream on the political left, according to his statement as shared by Spotlight PA reporter Stephen Caruso.
Wecht was elected to the state’s Supreme Court in 2015 as a Democrat, Politico reported. He served as vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party from 1998 to 2001, according to the statement.
Wecht said that the Democratic Party had been slouching toward antisemitism over the past 25 years. His voice joins a number of other voices within the party, including that of Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, sharing the same concern.
“Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled,” the statement read in part. “Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.”
“I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t. I am no longer registered within any political party,” Wecht added.
Inbox: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht, first elected as a Democrat in 2015 and retained last year, says in a statement he is “no longer registered within any political party,” because “acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common” in the Democratic Party. pic.twitter.com/DqrqEiiq5K
— Stephen Caruso (@StephenJ_Caruso) May 11, 2026
Wecht directly referenced the Oct. 27, 2018, mass shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, adding that he had been married in the same synagogue 20 years before and had served on its Board of Trustees. “That terror came from the right. Jew-hatred has always festered on the fringe of that sector,” he said.
“In the years that have followed, that same hatred has grown on the left. Increasingly, it has moved from the fringe to the mainstream,” the statement read.
By mentioning Nazi tattoos, Wecht also appeared to have made a reference to the presumed Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner, of whom video emerged showing him dancing shirtless at his brother’s wedding, with a tattoo on his chest that reportedly appeared to be of the German SS Totenkopf, a Nazi-affiliated symbol.
Platner later told Pod Save America that he was a “lifelong opponent” of Nazism, antisemitism, and all other forms of racism. He added that getting the skull-and-crossbones tattoo was a drunken decision he made while serving as a Marine in Croatia and that “skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing.”
Defending himself as non-partisan in carrying out his judicial responsibilities, Wecht, alluding to Shakespeare, suggested that he had become a non-affiliated voter because he was being true to himself.
Wecht’s allegation of rising antisemitism within the political left comes hot on the heels of an op-ed by Democratic New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer published Sunday in the New York Times in which Gottheimer makes a similar allegation, making particular reference to the popular left-wing commentator Hasan Piker. (RELATED: Far-Left Streamer Hasan Piker Appears To Call For Violent Revolution After Courts Side With GOP On Redistricting)
Fetterman said Tuesday that he “fully understand[s]” Wecht’s personal decision to quit the party.
“The Democratic Party must confront its own rising antisemitism problem,” Fetterman added.
American society “enjoy[ed] robust rights and liberties” that elevated American civilization, but nearly all once-great civilizations “deteriorated and declined when Jew-hatred grew and metastasized,” according to the statement.
Wecht called on “all good people to fight this virus, and to do so before it is too late.” He hoped that Pennsylvanians and all Americans would “oppose and resist the scourge of Jew-hatred before it undermines what our ancestors have built here.”