By Scott Bauer, AP

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor won election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 7, growing the liberal majority on the court 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, handily defeated Republican-backed Maria Lazar in the fourth straight victory for liberal court candidates dating back to 2020. Liberals are now guaranteed to hold a majority on the court until at least 2030.

“Once again, Wisconsin showed the entire nation that we believe that the people should be at the center of government and the priority of our judiciary, not the billionaires, not the most powerful and privileged, but the people,” Taylor said in her victory speech.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Brian Schimming, in the wake of Lazar’s double-digit defeat, called for Republicans to “stay united and continue fighting for our conservative values.”

Democrats tightened their control of the court just months before a November election in which they seek to keep the governor’s office and flip the state Legislature, where Republicans have held the majority since 2011. Democrats aspire to undo a host of Republican-enacted laws that made Wisconsin a focal point for the nation’s conservative movement in the 2010s.

The 2026 Supreme Court election stands in stark contrast to the swing state’s previous two, where national spending records were set in battles over majority control. Spending and national attention was down dramatically without control of the court at stake.

Liberals took control of the state’s top court in 2023, ending 15 years under a conservative majority. They held onto their majority with a 2025 victory in a race that drew involvement from President Donald Trump and billionaires George Soros and Elon Musk, who personally handed out $1 million checks to voters in the state.

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

Chris Taylor speaks to potential voters at an appearance on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on April 7, 2026, in Madison. Taylor defeated Maria Lazar in the 2026 election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, marking the fourth straight victory for liberal court candidates since 2020. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)

The court under liberal control has reversed several election-related rulings, including one that overturned a ban on absentee ballot drop boxes, and it is poised to once again be in the spotlight around the 2028 presidential election.

Races for the court are officially nonpartisan, but support for candidates breaks down mostly along partisan lines. The seat was open due to the retirement of a conservative justice.

Taylor, who is a state Appeals Court judge and previously worked for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, focused much of her campaign on abortion rights. One of her TV ads argued that “abortion is on the ballot.” In another ad, she criticized Lazar for calling the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 “very wise.”

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

They sparred over each other’s partisanship during the campaign’s sole debate held days before the election.

Lazar accused Taylor of being a “radical, extreme legislator” and a “judicial activist.” Taylor said that Lazar would bring “an extreme, right-wing political agenda to the bench.”

But she had a much harder time getting her message out. Taylor had a large 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 state abortion ban law and ordered new legislative maps since taking control of the court, fueling Democrats’ hopes of capturing a majority this November.

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

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

A circuit court judge ruled in December 2024 that the law is unconstitutional, a decision expected to ultimately land before the state Supreme Court.

Maria Lazar, the conservative candidate for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat in 2026, speaks to a supporter at an election night party on April 7, in Waukesha. Liberal candidate Chris Taylor defeated Lazar in the state’s spring election. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)

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

Democrats had been optimistic given the previous two Supreme Court elections, which saw candidates they backed winning by double digits.

Another conservative justice is retiring in 2027, giving liberals a chance to take 6-1 control of the court thanks to Taylor’s victory.