Right-leaning candidates have not been very competitive in recent elections for the state’s highest court. That trend accelerated in 2026.

By Gus Pirlot, THE BADGER PROJECT

This year’s race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court ended in an easy win for the Left’s candidate Chris Taylor, beating the Right’s candidate Maria Lazar by about 20%. Compared to last year’s more contentious race between Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford, in which the left-leaning Crawford won by about 10%, this year’s election has solidified the court’s position as a progressive stronghold, with a liberal majority of 5-2.  

Taylor’s wide margin of victory is an exception for the state over the past decade. A clear pattern is emerging: these spring races are genuinely competitive, but have rarely been nail-biters.

The 2016 race was held on the same ballot as both the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. These primaries were competitive – Bernie Sanders beat Hilary Clinton, and Ted Cruz won over Donald Trump in Wisconsin. In the state Supreme Court race, the conservative Rebecca Bradley won by less than five percentage points.

The closest contest in the last ten years came in 2019, when the conservative Brian Hagedorn defeated Lisa Neubauer by half a percentage point. That razor-thin margin stands in sharp contrast to 2026, when Taylor won by 20 points, the largest margin in a contested race in many years.

The Badger Project is an independent news nonprofit in Wisconsin.