Wisconsin voters head to the polls on Tuesday in the wi supreme court election, a race that will decide who fills a seat on the state’s high court. The contest will either maintain or expand the court’s liberal majority, while Waukesha also holds its first open-seat mayoral race in 20 years.
Wi Supreme Court Election puts court balance in focus
In the wi supreme court election, state Appeals Court judges Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar are seeking to replace retiring Justice Rebecca Bradley, who is part of the court’s conservative bloc. Taylor is a former Democratic state representative and has endorsements from the court’s four sitting liberal justices. Lazar served as assistant state attorney general under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and is endorsed by conservative Justice Annette Ziegler, who said in March that she will not seek a third term in 2027.
The race is not drawing the same level of attention as recent Wisconsin Supreme Court contests, because the ideological balance of the bench is not at stake. Even so, the winner will join a court that could face major disputes tied to the 2028 presidential election or the next round of congressional redistricting in the early 2030s. Justices are elected to 10-year terms.
What Tuesday means for Wisconsin voters
This spring election also includes races for judicial, municipal, educational and other traditionally nonpartisan offices. The broader political pattern in Wisconsin remains familiar: Democrats tend to win by large margins in Milwaukee and Dane counties, while Republicans dominate many rural counties across the state.
Republican candidates also rely on strong results in the suburban Milwaukee counties known as the “WOW” counties: Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington. Those margins often help decide statewide contests, especially when swing counties come into play.
In the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris won Milwaukee County with 68% of the vote and Dane County with 75%, while narrowly losing statewide. In comparison, Janet Protasiewicz and Susan Crawford won their successful state Supreme Court races by larger margins in those same counties and each carried more than 10 swing counties that voted for Donald Trump in 2024, including Brown County, home to Green Bay.
Waukesha mayoral race adds another high-profile contest
Alongside the state Supreme Court election, Waukesha is holding its first open-seat mayoral race in 20 years. Common Council President Alicia Halvensleben and state Rep. Scott Allen are running for the job, adding a closely watched local contest to an already busy election day.
The outcome of the wi supreme court election will shape the court’s next chapter, even with the bench’s current ideological split unchanged. With voters making decisions across court, city and other nonpartisan races on Tuesday, attention now shifts to the margins in Wisconsin’s biggest counties and the swing areas that often decide the state’s closest contests.
