Chris Taylor secures decisive victory in Wisconsin Supreme Court race

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In Brief:

• Chris Taylor wins Wisconsin Supreme Court seat with 60% vote.
• Taylor expands liberal majority on court to 5-2.
• Taylor to serve a 10-year term on Wisconsin Supreme Court.
• Maria Lazar concedes after election night loss.

Liberal candidate Chris Taylor cruised to an easy victory over her conservative opponent in the state Supreme Court race on Tuesday night, expanding the liberal majority on the court to 5-2.

Taylor, a state Appeals Court judge, was projected to defeat fellow state Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar by Decision Desk HQ at 8:26 p.m. on April 7, not even a half hour after the polls closed.

The Associated Press officially called the race by about 8:40 p.m.

Taylor had received about 60% of the vote compared to Lazar with 40% with 93% of the vote in, according to unofficial results.

This is the third liberal victory in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election in the last four years. Liberals went into this year’s race with a 4-3 majority on the court – and knew they would keep their majority regardless of who won. The seat became an open race when conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley announced she would not seek reelection.

Taylor’s win means liberals are poised to control the state Supreme Court until at least 2030.

Taylor, 58, will serve a 10-year term on the state’s highest court. Conservative Justice Annette Ziegler announced she will not seek another term in 2027, setting up another election in which conservatives will defend a seat.

Jubilant Taylor supporters celebrate overwhelming victory

Democratic candidates, elected officials and supporters filled a ballroom at Madison’s Concourse Hotel, where cheers broke out shortly after 8:30 p.m. at the news of Taylor’s victory.

Chief Justice Jill Karofsky spoke before Taylor, thanking “every candidate for judicial office who put their name on the ballot across the state this April, including Judge Maria Lazar.”

Karofsky, whom Taylor succeeded on the Dane County Circuit Court, said what struck her most about Taylor when they first spoke was “how much [she] truly cares about people.”

“She will uphold our laws, she will defend the constitution, she will stay committed to our democracy, and she will never forget — Chris Taylor will never forget — about you, the people across the state of Wisconsin,” Karofsky said.

Taylor took the stage at about 9:15 p.m. to chants of, “Chris! Chris! Chris!”

She said Lazar had just called to concede.

Taylor thanked her family, her campaign staff and the four justices she’ll join on the court to lock in a 5-2 liberal majority. She also thanked her beloved dog, Ollie, who got cheers and chants from the crowd.

“Tonight the people of Wisconsin stood up for our rights and freedoms, our democracy, our elections and a strong state Supreme Court that will protect the independence of our beloved state,” Taylor said.

“People are hungry for a government that works for them. People are hungry for a judiciary that prioritizes them, that protects our rights, that affords all Wisconsinites equal justice under the law. That is exactly what I will do as your next state Supreme Court justice,” Taylor pledged.

Smaller gathering of Maria Lazar backers

Several dozen attendees were present at Lazar’s election night watch party in Waukesha, including 2025 Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel, a conservative who lost last year to Justice Susan Crawford.

Inside the Ingleside Hotel’s ballroom, attendees scrolled on their phones and watched the Fox News livestream playing on a projector at the front of the room. An assortment of country music hits played over the speakers.

After the race’s fast call in Taylor’s favor, Republican former Gov. Scott Walker said he was proud of Lazar’s campaign. His son, Matt, served as an adviser for her campaign.

“In the end, whether you’re liberal or conservative, I think the best we want out of judges and justices are people who are impartial, that set aside whatever their political or personal beliefs might be and just uphold the constitution,” Walker said.

The music cut off around 9:20 p.m. and Lazar arrived moments later to deliver her concession speech.

Lazar circled the room, thanking attendees for supporting her campaign.

“I have conceded, and that’s OK,” Lazar said. “I just want you to know that I care about this state so much. I have been honest, I have been transparent, I have been above board.”

Lazar, 62, said this race was one where her campaign was always behind and working to catch up, adding that she wished there were more debates and more opportunities to connect with voters across the state.

By 10 p.m., Lazar’s party had mostly cleared out.

Asked about the Republican Party’s support for her campaign, Lazar said she was satisfied from the financial backing that she received from all supporters and she “held no recriminations” against anyone.

Subdued race compared to 2025 Supreme Court election

Without control of the court at stake, this year’s election was subdued compared to the state Supreme Court race in 2025, which became the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. Last year’s race drew more than $100 million in spending, including campaign cash from millionaires and billionaires around the country.

The biggest spender in that race was Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who held a rally in Wisconsin that involved him wearing a foam Cheesehead, handing out a couple of giant $1 million checks. During his Green Bay event, Musk warned that “the entire destiny of humanity” would be shaped by the outcome of the race.

Even though Musk and others spent millions trying to elect Schimel, he lost by about 10 percentage points to Crawford.

It was a similar margin to the 2023 race, in which liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz defeated Dan Kelly, a conservative former state Supreme Court justice.

Unofficial results on Tuesday show Taylor may defeat Lazar by 20 percentage points, a warning sign for conservatives heading into the November elections.

Polar opposite candidates highlight partisanship in race

It’s hard to imagine two candidates who were farther apart on abortion and other key issues than Taylor and Lazar.

Taylor previously worked as law and policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin – a major reproductive health care provider and abortion rights group. She also served for about 10 years in the state Legislature, then was appointed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to the Dane County Circuit Court bench in 2020. She’s been a judge on the Madison-based District IV Court of Appeals since 2023.

Lazar has been on the Waukesha-based District 2 Court of Appeals since 2022. She previously served as a Waukesha County judge, an assistant attorney general under Republican Attorneys General J.B. Van Hollen and Schimel, and as an attorney in private practice.

Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights organizations, as well as unions and liberal groups celebrated Taylor’s overwhelming win.

Taylor referenced the issue during her victory speech, saying she has spent her 30-year legal career working “to make sure that people’s rights and freedoms are protected, that survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are protected and respected, and that working people who actually make the pie get a slice of it instead of the leftover crumbs.”“And I have always valued every woman’s ability to make her own personal, private health are decisions,” she said.