Wisconsin Supreme Court: Liberals Aim to Extend Majority as Taylor Faces Lazar
Tuesday's election won't flip the court's 4-3 liberal majority, but a Taylor win would lock it in through the end of the decade. Spending is $9 million -- a tenth of last year's record $100 million race.
Wisconsin voters go to the polls Tuesday to choose between two appeals court judges for a 10-year seat on the state Supreme Court. Judge Chris Taylor, a liberal, faces Judge Maria Lazar, a conservative, for the seat being vacated by retiring Justice Rebecca Bradley.
The election will not flip the court. Liberals already hold a 4-3 majority. But a Taylor win would replace a conservative seat with a liberal one, expanding the majority to 5-2 and locking in liberal control potentially through the end of the decade.
The court right now
| Justice | Lean | Elected/Appointed | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annette Ziegler | Conservative | Elected 2007 | 2027 |
| Rebecca Bradley | Conservative | Appointed 2015 | 2026 (this seat) |
| Rebecca Dallet | Liberal | Elected 2018 | 2028 |
| Brian Hagedorn | Conservative | Elected 2019 | 2029 |
| Jill Karofsky | Liberal | Elected 2020 | 2030 |
| Janet Protasiewicz | Liberal | Elected 2023 | 2033 |
Current balance: 4-3 liberal. If Taylor wins: 5-2. If Lazar wins: 4-3 unchanged.
The candidates
Chris Taylor is a judge on the Court of Appeals, District IV (Madison). Before the bench she served as a Democratic state legislator from 2011 to 2020 and as public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. She was elected to the circuit court in 2020 and elevated to appeals court in 2023.
Maria Lazar is a judge on the Court of Appeals, District II (Waukesha). She previously served as a Waukesha County circuit court judge from 2015 to 2021 and as an assistant attorney general at the Wisconsin DOJ from 2010 to 2015. She describes herself as a "constitutional conservative."
The money
This race has attracted a fraction of the spending that made Wisconsin's 2025 Supreme Court contest the most expensive judicial election in American history at over $100 million.
| Taylor | Lazar | |
|---|---|---|
| Raised (through Dec. 2025) | $2 million | $198,000 |
| Raised (through March 2026) | $5.6 million | $900,000 |
| Total spending (all sources) | ~$9 million combined |
Taylor holds a commanding fundraising advantage, roughly 6-to-1. The low overall spending reflects the reality that the court's ideological balance is not at stake in the same way it was in 2023 (when Protasiewicz flipped the majority) or 2025 (when Crawford defended it).
What the polling shows
A Marquette Law School poll from mid-March found most voters hadn't engaged with the race:
- Taylor: 23%
- Lazar: 17%
- Undecided: 53%
More than half of registered voters said they hadn't heard enough about either candidate to form an opinion. Early voting is down more than 50% compared to the 2025 race.
What's at stake
Even without a majority flip, the cases before the court carry weight:
- Congressional redistricting: Challenges to Wisconsin's district maps could return to the court
- Collective bargaining: Act 10, which eliminated collective bargaining for most public workers, faces ongoing legal challenges
- Abortion access: Wisconsin's 1849 abortion ban remains in legal limbo after the liberal majority declined to rule definitively on it
- Election law: Ballot drop boxes, voter ID requirements, and election administration rules continue to generate litigation
A 5-2 majority would give liberals a cushion -- they could lose one vote on any case and still prevail.
Also on Tuesday: Georgia's 14th District
Georgia voters in the 14th Congressional District are also heading to the polls Tuesday for a runoff to fill the seat vacated by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned on January 5, 2026.
The runoff pits Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired Army brigadier general who received 37.3% in the March 10 first round, against Republican Clayton Fuller, a district attorney endorsed by Trump who received 34.9%. Seventeen candidates ran in the first round.
The outcome matters for the House balance: Republicans hold a 217-214 majority. Trump carried the district with 68% in 2024.