Chris
Taylor has won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, NBC News
projects, expanding liberals’ majority in the key battleground state.
Taylor,
a state appeals court judge and former Democratic state legislator,
secured a 10-year term on the court over conservative Maria Lazar, an
appeals court judge who worked in Republican former Gov. Scott Walker’s
administration.
Taylor’s
victory in the race for retiring Justice Rebecca Bradley’s seat means
liberals will have a 5-2 edge on the swing state’s highest court,
putting the majority out of reach for conservatives until at least 2030.
With
most of the expected vote in, Taylor led Lazar by more than 20 points.
That's a 10-point swing toward the Democratic-backed side compared to
the 2025 state Supreme Court race and a 21-point swing from the 2024
presidential contest in Wisconsin.
Liberal candidates have won four straight Wisconsin Supreme Court elections,
as well as five of the last six. And dating to 2017, Democratic and
Democratic-aligned candidates have won 19 of the last 24 statewide races
in Wisconsin.
Taylor, who
was backed by the state Democratic Party, held massive fundraising and
ad spending advantages over Lazar throughout the race. She had put
abortion and voting rights at the forefront of her campaign, much like
other winning liberal Supreme Court candidates in the state in recent
years. Taylor, a former policy director for the state's Planned
Parenthood group, also leaned into messaging that targeted President
Donald Trump, which has helped turn out Democratic voters in
non-presidential elections in Wisconsin and nationally.
This year’s race was far quieter and less expensive than the last two Supreme Court elections in Wisconsin.
In 2023, liberals won a majority on the court
for the first time in 15 years. And last year, they maintained that
majority after the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S.
history, into which tech billionaire Elon Musk poured millions of
dollars for the conservative candidate. But without a court majority on the line this year, fundraising and enthusiasm were lower across the board.
In
the 2025 race, groups and candidates spent $85 million on ads,
according to the tracking firm AdImpact. This year's race drew $6.5
million in spending on the airwaves, with $4.7 million in support of
Taylor and more than $1 million opposing Lazar.
The
impact of a liberal majority has already been felt over the past
several years in Wisconsin. The court overturned the state’s legislative
maps, which heavily favored Republicans, resulting in new district
lines' going into effect in 2024. Democrats have their sights set on flipping at least one legislative chamber for the first time in 16 years this fall.
Democrats
also hope lawsuits over Wisconsin’s congressional map will make their
way before the state Supreme Court. Republicans control six of the
state’s eight House seats. They are also eyeing action on the court that
could scale back or overturn a raft of other conservative legislation
from previous GOP administrations, including a law that eliminated most
collective bargaining rights for public workers.
And last year, the court ruled 4-3 to formally strike down a near-total abortion ban from 1849 that had gone into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Liberals
will have yet another opportunity to expand their Wisconsin Supreme
Court majority next year, with conservative Justice Annette Ziegler
declining to run for a third term. After 2027, three other justices are
also set to face re-election for 10-year terms from 2028 to 2030.
