Here & Now

Wisconsin's 2026 Supreme Court Candidates Get Out the Vote

Frederica Freyberg:
We’re now just four days away from the spring election with justice for Wisconsin Supreme Court on the ballot. Liberal candidate Chris Taylor has held a commanding fundraising lead over the conservative candidate, Maria Lazar, with most of that money being poured into ads on TV and online. Now, while this election has held a lower profile than the last two Supreme Court elections, as “Here & Now” senior political reporter Zac Schultz tells us, on Tuesday, this race will likely come down to the get out the vote efforts of each campaign.

Zac Schultz:
It’s a Saturday morning in March, and a crowd of volunteers is busy filling out postcards at the GOP headquarters in Appleton.

Pam Van Handel:
Address and then sign your name. Write a little something about Lazar or vote on April 7th. We really got to get out the votes.

Zac Schultz:
The cards encourage voters to support Maria Lazar in the Supreme Court election. Pam Van Handel is the chair of the Republican Party of Outagamie County. She says handwritten postcards have a personal touch and are more likely to be read than a glossy campaign flier.

Pam Van Handel:
So what we’re doing is we’re looking for people that are more likely to go out and vote in these smaller elections, because it is tough to get people out to vote. So that’s our goal here. So we get a list from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and we tell them, give us the ones that are really going to go out and vote because we really need them.

Colin Roberts:
Don’t forget to vote on April 7th.

Zac Schultz:
On that same Saturday, Colin Roberts, a member of the Milwaukee County Dems, is knocking doors for Chris Taylor.

Man:
Yeah, I plan on voting.

Colin Roberts:
Oh, okay. Could I ask who you plan on voting for?

Man:
The Democratic candidate.

Colin Roberts:
Okay. Yeah, so yeah. Chris Taylor.

Zac Schultz:
Technically Supreme Court elections are nonpartisan and candidates use labels like conservative or liberal instead of Republican or Democrat. But in reality, the Democratic and Republican Parties of Wisconsin each donate millions of dollars and coordinate thousands of volunteers in the get out the vote effort.

Maria Lazar:
I just think going everywhere is the key and talking to people.

Chris Taylor:
Hello, ma’am, I’m Chris Taylor.

Carol Cornelius:
So nice to meet you.

Chris Taylor:
So nice to meet you.

Carol Cornelius:
I’m Carol Cornelius.

Chris Taylor:
Oh.

Carol Cornelius:
You’ll have my vote.

Chris Taylor:
Oh. Thank you.

Zac Schultz:
The liberal candidate has won four out of the last five Supreme Court elections, flipping a court that in 2019 had a 5-2 conservative majority. If Taylor wins, liberals will hold a 5-2 majority.

Chris Taylor:
How many of you are fired up to protect our democracy?

Audience:
Yes.

Chris Taylor:
All right.

Maria Lazar:
We are looking at a court that is now 4-3. When I win, it will stay 4-3. We’re not changing its composition, but the three votes are so very important.

Zac Schultz:
Republicans around the state have expressed worry the backlash to Donald Trump’s presidency and political realignment have led to this losing streak.

Maria Lazar:
I don’t know if it’s impacted morale. What I will say is this. I think that the state of Wisconsin is looking at these races and they’re asking who’s running and why people are running and for what reason. And when I look at this race, the reason I am running is because I want to be someone on that court who represents the law for the state of Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:
Taylor wants to make sure her supporters don’t get complacent with the winning streak.

Chris Taylor:
There’s four more state Supreme Court elections coming up after mine. No one should take anything for granted. This court can change very quickly, but if I am able to get elected, there will be a pro-democracy majority on the court until at least 2030.

Zac Schultz:
In their wins, Rebecca Dallet, Jill Karofsky, Janet Protasiewicz and Susan Crawford each received 55% of the vote. The one conservative victory in this streak was in 2019, when Brian Hagedorn won by less than 6,000 votes, half a percent. That was a low turnout election, with a million fewer voters than last year. Hagedorn was outspent and written off by most election observers who expected to see him lose easily. It’s no surprise Lazar hopes this election ends up following the same pattern.

Maria Lazar:
Well, secretly, yes. So the parallels are there. I think that through my entire career, people have underestimated me. It’s sort of been a theme that they don’t think someone a little shorter, a little, little softer spoken can be as strong as steel and I am. And in this race, I think that’s important too. People think that, you know, it’s written off. It’s a done deal and it’s not.

Zac Schultz:
Taylor is aware of the Hagedorn comparisons.

Chris Taylor:
I won’t rest until April 8th, the day after this election. I take nothing for granted. This is going to be a hard, competitive race. I will need every vote that I can get. I need all the help that I can get from the people of the state of Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:
This weekend will feature the final push for get out the vote efforts.

Pam Van Handel:
I really feel like the people now are really getting involved at this level, and we’re getting more signs out. We’re getting — we’re just really getting the grassroots going on.

Zac Schultz:
With volunteers knocking on doors and reminding their supporters to vote on Tuesday.

Colin Roberts:
Do you know your polling location?

Man:
Yeah. Right there.

Colin Roberts:
The pavilion?

Man:
I can see it.

Zac Schultz:
Reporting from Appleton, I’m Zac Schultz for “Here & Now.”