Chris Taylor, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge, won a seat on the state Supreme Court in a quiet election Tuesday she was widely expected to dominate.
Taylor, who ran as a liberal candidate, defeated a conservative appeals court judge, Maria Lazar, increasing the court’s liberal majority to 5-2. The Associated Press called the race at 9:36 p.m. Tuesday with Taylor in a clear lead.
It was the fourth consecutive victory for Democratic-backed Supreme Court candidates in Wisconsin, just a year after Elon Musk, Turning Point Action and other national donors attempted to flip the court in the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.
Conservative donors spent more than $100 million in 2025 backing candidate Brad Schimel, who lost to now-Justice Susan Crawford.
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This year’s election drew far fewer dollars and eyeballs.
Taylor, a former attorney for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin who later served as a state assemblymember and as a Dane County Circuit Court judge, raised more than $5.8 million since last year, according to campaign filings, compared to $983,000 by Lazar. Early voting dropped almost 60% from the 2025 race, while absentee ballots decreased by almost 50%.
Slipping turnout reflected voters’ limited attention to this year’s election. More than 60% of a sample of registered voters in mid-March told the Marquette Law School Poll that they hadn’t heard enough to have an opinion about either candidate.
Voters’ lack of familiarity with Taylor and Lazar led political strategists on both sides to believe the election was anyone’s for the taking, despite Taylor’s large fundraising advantage.
But Taylor’s win — which followed those of Crawford in 2025 and Janet Protasiewicz in 2023 — shows that liberal groups have all but mastered Wisconsin’s spring judicial elections, Democratic operatives say.
Liberal candidates’ victory margins have “exploded” since the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning abortion protections, Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki said. Wisconsin voters concerned about reproductive rights, particularly women and college-educated voters, are turning out for lower-profile spring elections.
“That’s one of the reasons [Taylor] entered Election Day with such a commanding lead,” Zepecki said Tuesday afternoon. “We believe Taylor is entering Election Day with an even bigger margin than Crawford or Protasiewicz had.”
Taylor was leading by more than 20 percentage points with more than half of votes counted Tuesday night. Crawford and Protasiewicz each won by a 10-point margin.
Taylor will replace retiring conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley.
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