Related Stories, Unofficial Results More primary coverage Video: Scenes from an election night headquarters The PG's Early Returns blog Allegheny County Armstrong County Beaver Butler Fayette Greene Washington Westmoreland Pennsylvania Department of State -- Primary 2007 Returns

The endorsed candidates for the state's high court handily won their parties' nominations in yesterday's primary election -- a low-octane contest that drew little voter interest statewide.

Democrats Seamus McCaffery, of Philadelphia, and Debra Todd, of Butler County, both members of the Superior Court, took early leads in their party's primary for two nominations to Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Judge McCaffery is an immigrant -- he became a citizen in 1971 some years after his family arrived in Philadelphia from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He became a city policeman, attended law school at night, and rose through the Philadelphia courts, attracting attention with special booking sessions he presided over in the former Veterans Stadium to handle the arrests of rowdy football fans.

Judge Todd, the daughter of a steelworker, spent much of her career in civil litigation before joining the bench.

Philadelphia Judge C. Darnell Jones ran third with another Philadelphia judge, Willis Berry, a distant fourth.

On the Republican side of the ballot, Maureen Lally-Green, a Superior Court judge from Butler County and Michael Krancer, a former chairman and chief judge of the state's Environmental Hearing Board, took early leads in their party's primary and were declared winners less than three hours after the polls closed.

Judge Lally-Green worked as counsel for the major litigation section of the former Westinghouse Electric and later joined the Duquesne Law School faculty. She joined Superior Court in 1998.

Mr. Krancer, a native of Cleveland, spent much of his career at two Philadelphia law firms.

A third candidate, Paul Panepinto, a Philadelphia judge, ran third.

One of the openings on Supreme Court was created by last year's surprising rejection of Justice Russell Nigro. The Philadelphia Democrat fell victim to a voter backlash over a midnight pay raise passed by the Republican-led state Legislature. The raise also included hefty salary increases for judges -- pay hikes the state Supreme Court upheld for judges even as the Legislature retreated and retracted its own pay hike.

This year's candidates generally avoided the topic of the pay raise, with Mr. Krancer alone among the candidates to specifically declare that he believed the court erred in retaining the pay raise for judges.

In all, 17 names appeared on the ballot for Supreme and Superior courts.

In the primaries for Superior Court, 10 candidates sought nominations for two open seats.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Cheryl Allen, a lifelong Democrat, appeared headed to a nomination in the Republican primary. Judge Allen was not endorsed by the state Republican Party and had early problems in fund raising for the contest.

Judge Allen ordered a disputed $10,000 donation from the trust of an elderly Upper St. Clair woman returned after the woman said she had never authorized the donation. With only $13,000 in the bank, she had to first raise enough money to cover the refund. The party's two endorsed candidates, Bruce Bratton, a Dauphin County judge, and Jacqueline Shogan, a lawyer from Westmoreland County, were trailing.

On the Democratic side, Christine Donohue, a lawyer from Shadyside, captured one of two nominations. Three other candidates, Anne Lazarus, a Philadelphia judge, Westmoreland County attorney Timothy McCormick and Judge Ron Folino were in a close three-way contest for the other.

They were followed by Ronald Folino, of Fox Chapel, Allegheny County judge; and three Philadelphia judges, Jimmy Lynn; John Younge, the party's lone endorsed candidate, and James DeLeon, a municipal judge.