HARRISBURG -- Three Allegheny County legal minds were victors in a tight race for Superior Court Tuesday.

The results reinforce the political and geographic leanings of the court, which currently has nine Republicans and six Democrats. Nine of the current judges are from the Pittsburgh region, four from the Philadelphia region and two from the northeast.

Pittsburgh lawyer Christine Donohue, a Democrat, led the pack of six candidates with 19 percent of the vote. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Cheryl Lynn Allen and Pittsburgh attorney Jackie Shogan, both Republicans, each took 17 percent of the vote. All won 10-year terms.

Superior Court President Judge Kate Ford Elliott said each newcomer brings something different to the court. "Judge-elect Donohue has a tremendous background in the civil area. Judge-elect Shogan has experience in the civil area, too, and Judge-elect Allen has spent a great deal of time in the juvenile division, an area very important to our court," Judge Ford Elliott said.

The three narrowly beat Democratic Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Ron Folino, who conceded yesterday. Trailing farther behind were Republican Dauphin County Judge Bruce Bratton and Democratic Philadelphia County Judge John Younge.

Two new vacancies on Superior Court were created Tuesday.

The election of Superior Court judges Seamus McCaffrey and Debra Todd to the Supreme Court means Gov. Ed Rendell will have the vacancies to fill. His nominations must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.

The nominees will serve two years -- until the next municipal election -- when voters will elect judges for 10-year terms.

Mr. Rendell said he must find someone "who is willing to do it on an interim basis," meaning they won't run for the seat at the end of the two years.

"We have a general agreement in Harrisburg that no Democrat or Republican will be appointed to these spots if they are going to run in the subsequent election."

Overall, one-third of the 15-judge court is turning over as a result of Tuesday's vote. That's the biggest influx of newcomers since 1980, when the court was expanded from seven to 15 members, Judge Ford Elliott said.

She is relieved, though, that there aren't even more newcomers.

Three sitting judges -- Joan Orie Melvin, John L. Musmanno and Correale Stevens -- faced retention elections Tuesday. They faced lingering anger over the Supreme Court's decision to allow judges statewide to keep the controversial pay raises the Legislature approved in 2005 and subsequently repealed.

Judge Ford Elliott was relieved to "retain these three excellent judges, so their years of judicial experience will be available to us again. It would have been a crushing blow to lose them."

Each year, the court's 15 judges hear up to 8,000 appeals ranging from adoptions to wiretapping cases to criminal convictions.

The newcomers replace Judge Joseph A. Hudock, who reached the mandatory retirement of 70; Judge Michael T. Joyce, who decided not to run for retention after his indictment on mail fraud and money laundering charges; and Robert C. Daniels, who was appointed to fill a vacancy last year when Judge Joseph A. Del Sole retired.