Liberals again dominate Supreme Court race with their eyes on another seat next year

By WisPolitics-State Affairs

Liberal Justice-elect Chris Taylor won in a blowout, even winning in traditionally Republican counties like Ozaukee, Jefferson, Oneida and Vilas.

She and her allies outspent conservative rival Maria Lazar by an 8-to-1 advantage, according to a WisPolitics review on Election Day.

And analysts suggest anger over federal leadership and policies in this mid-term cycle motivated voters toward the candidate that spoke to them in political terms.

Now the liberals, with a new 5-2 margin on the Wisconsin Supreme Court come Taylor’s swearing-in for her 10-year term on Aug. 1, have locked up the court majority through at least 2030. An amazing thing considering how dominant the conservatives once were in winning these spring elections.

Liberals have won the last three races for the high court by double digits, and they probably aren’t done yet, given the dominance of Dem-oriented voters in smaller turnout races. They will now have opportunity next spring to expand it to 6-1 with conservative Justice Annette Ziegler retiring. A win next year would guarantee liberals the majority through at least 2033, covering a period that includes the 2028 and 2032 presidential races as well as the process in 2031 to draw new legislative and congressional district boundaries.

Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who started the recent trend, told WisPolitics Taylor’s win was a “magnificent accomplishment” and highlighted the double-digit margins in the last three Supreme Court races won by her, Susan Crawford and now Taylor.

Protasiewicz added: “If I were on the far right, how do I possibly look at these results and think there’s any path to victory” next year?

“It tells you the people of Wisconsin really care that they figured out these races and they figured out that they have a majority of the court who really cares,” she said of Taylor’s victory. “We do our absolute best to follow the law and really make sure that people’s concerns are cared for.”

With 99% of the vote in, Taylor was at 60.1%, according to unofficial returns. That tops the 59.7% that then-Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson won in her last reelection bid in 2009. Prior to that, the largest margin of victory in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race over the past 26 years was in 2000, when then-Justice Diane Sykes, a conservative, won with 65.5%.

Lazar, addressing a sparse and subdued crowd at a Pewaukee hotel on election night, said the race was the “absolute 100% honor of my lifetime.”

The appeals court judge insisted throughout the campaign that she wasn’t a conservative, but an independent, and declined to discuss her personal views. She again said during her concession speech that the campaign was run so that people will know going forward that “judicial races are not political races.”

“Your votes were not cast in vain, and you did set a mark and draw a line and say, ‘Wisconsin deserves better,’ and I’m hopeful in future years that will happen,” Lazar said.

Former Gov. Scott Walker, Attorney General candidate Eric Toney and 2025 Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel were in attendance as country music played in the background and returns rolled in.

As Lazar made her way to the podium to deliver her concession speech, she greeted nearly every supporter in the crowd, hugging and consoling emotional supporters.

Lazar in her speech lamented that there was just one debate with Taylor and that it was delayed until five days before the election. Taylor pulled out of the original March 25 debate after being diagnosed with kidney stones, and Lazar told supporters there should’ve been three meetings between the two candidates.

The fundraising and spending were tilted heavily in Taylor’s favor.

The liberal appeals court judge and her allies had reported spending $7.9 million heading into the election, giving her a nearly 8-to-1 advantage, according to a WisPolitics tally.

What’s more, a single group reported a $20,000 expenditure for texting to support Lazar, according to a check of independent expenditure reports.

In contrast, 13 of the 20 groups that reported independent expenditures backing Taylor noted GOTV expenses.

“This race was run so that people in this state, from now on, will know that judicial races are not political races, and the next race, we will keep fighting to put judges, good, talented judges with experience on the bench and we will not take the status quo,” Lazar said.

The WOW counties — once the heart of the GOP turnout operation in Wisconsin — continued to underperform for conservatives compared to the years before Donald Trump took office.

Lazar took 61.8% of the vote in Washington County and 54% in Waukesha County, where she once served on the circuit court, according to unofficial returns posted at the clerks’ websites.

Taylor, meanwhile, took 52.1% in Ozaukee County, which fellow liberal Crawford lost last year even as she won statewide by double digits.

By comparison, conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley — who Taylor will replace Aug. 1 — romped in all three counties a decade ago as she retained her seat.

But this year the conservative numbers didn’t hold up. It’s no wonder that Bradley opted out of a reelection race.

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The Capitol Report is written by editorial staff at WisPolitics.com, a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics, and is distributed for publication by members of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.