Democratic-backed Chris Taylor wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race, growing liberal majority

MADISON, Wis. — Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor won election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, increasing the court’s liberal majority as cases affecting congressional redistricting, union rights and other hot-button issues await in the perennial battleground state.

Taylor, who focused her campaign on abortion rights, defeated Republican-backed Maria Lazar in the fourth straight victory for liberal candidates on the court dating back to 2020. Liberals are now assured of holding a majority on the court at least until 2030.

Democrats have strengthened their control over the court just months before November elections in which they seek to retain the governorship and flip the state Legislature, where Republicans have held the majority since 2011. Democrats aspire to undo a series of Republican-enacted laws that made Wisconsin a focal point of the nation’s conservative movement in the 2010s.

This year’s Supreme Court elections stand in stark contrast to the swing state’s two previous elections, where national spending records were set in battles for majority control. Spending and national attention have dropped dramatically this year without control of the court at stake.

Liberals took control of the state’s highest court in 2023, ending 15 years under a conservative majority. They retained their majority thanks to last year’s victory in a race that included President Donald Trump and billionaires George Soros and Elon Musk, who personally distributed $1 million checks to voters in the state.

Liberals have argued that democracy is at stake in the 2025 election, noting that when the court was controlled by conservative justices in 2020, it fell just one vote short of siding with Trump in his attempt to invalidate enough votes to overturn his defeat in that year’s presidential election.

The liberal-controlled court has overturned several election-related rulings, including one that struck down a ban on mail-in ballot drop boxes, and it is poised to be in the spotlight again around the 2028 presidential election.

The court races are officially nonpartisan, but support for candidates splits primarily along partisan lines. The seat was open due to the retirement of a conservative justice.

Taylor, who is a judge on the state Court of Appeals and previously worked for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, has focused much of his campaign on abortion rights. One of his television ads claimed that “abortion was on the ballot.” In another ad, she criticized Lazar for calling the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court in 2022.

Lazar, who is also a judge on the state Court of Appeals and who was supported by anti-abortion groups in her bid for that court, attempted to portray Taylor as nothing more than a politician who would push a partisan agenda on the high court.

They clashed in the only campaign debate last week.

Lazar accused Taylor of being a “radical and extremist lawmaker” and a “judicial activist.” Taylor said Lazar would bring “a far-right political agenda to the bench.”

But she had a much harder time getting her message across. Taylor had a significant fundraising advantage and spent about nine times as much as Lazar on television ads, based on a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The liberal-controlled court has already struck down a national law banning abortion and ordered new legislative maps since taking control of the court, fueling Democrats’ hopes of securing a majority in November.

Taylor has been a judge since 2020 and before that spent 10 years as a Democrat representing the liberal capital, Madison, in the state Assembly.

Lazar, a judge since 2015, worked for four years under a Republican attorney general in the state Department of Justice. In that role, she championed a law signed into law by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public employees.

A circuit court judge ruled in December that the law was unconstitutional, a decision that is ultimately expected to go to the state Supreme Court.

Lazar also defended laws passed by Republicans and signed by Walker implementing a voter ID requirement and restricting access to abortion.

Democrats were optimistic given the last two Supreme Court elections, which saw candidates they supported win by double digits.

Another conservative justice will retire next year, giving liberals a chance to take control of the court 6-1 with Taylor’s victory.