PHILADELPHIA — Democrats will soon control Pennsylvania's highest court, thanks to the victorious campaigns of a former Philadelphia judge who dispensed speedy justice to rowdy football fans in "Eagles Court" and a steelworker's daughter from Western Pennsylvania.

Voters also rubber-stamped additional 10-year terms for seven appellate judges, signaling that public disenchantment with the 2005 government pay raises may have run its course.

The Supreme Court victories of state Superior Court judges Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd will give the Democrats a one-seat majority in January, replacing the current one-seat Republican majority.

With returns from 98 percent of precincts, McCaffery won 30 percent of the statewide vote and Todd had 26 percent for a pair of open seats on the court. Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green attracted 24 percent while fellow Republican Mike Krancer, a Montgomery County lawyer and former chief judge of the state Environmental Hearing Board, had 19 percent.

The bald, motorcycle-riding McCaffery, 57, is a native of Ireland who served as a Philadelphia police officer for 19 years. After earning a law degree, he was elected to the city's Municipal Court, where he served for 10 years before moving up to the appellate court in 2003.

"I guess you might say I'm somewhat of a different Democrat," he said after his victory became clear late Tuesday night. "I'm a straight shooter, a no-nonsense guy ... 'Public servant' to me is not just a title. To me, it's an honor."

Todd, 50, of Butler County, spent 18 years working as a lawyer before she was elected to the appellate bench in 1999. In a telephone interview, she noted that she will be only the second woman to serve on the court, and the first Democrat to be elected to it.

"The message of having a woman's voice at the table resonated with the voters," she said.

Pittsburgh lawyer Christine Donohue secured one of three open seats on Superior Court. Two Republicans, Allegheny County Judge Cheryl Lynn Allen and Pittsburgh lawyer Jackie Shogan, appeared to have won the other two. With returns from 98 percent of the precincts, Donohue had 19 percent of the vote while Allen and Shogan each had 17 percent.

Democratic Allegheny County Judge Ron Folino trailed with 16 percent, followed by Democratic Philadelphia County Judge John Younge and Republican Dauphin County Judge Bruce F. Bratton, each with 15 percent.

A spokesman for the Republican State Committee said the Superior Court victories will help energize the GOP for next year's election battles.

"To win two Superior Court seats is a huge feat," said spokesman Mike Barley.

The results of the seven retention votes were a sign that voters' wrath over the state government pay raises of 2005 may have run its course.

Citizen activist groups helped make then-Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro the first statewide judge to be ousted in a retention vote in 2005. The same groups advocated "no" votes this year for most of the state and county judges seeking retention.