Wisconsin voters on Tuesday picked Chris Taylor to be the next state Supreme Court justice in what was the most emphatic of recent victories for Democratic-backed candidates, who will control the high court for the next several years.

Taylor won 60 percent of the votes, according to preliminary election results, in what has been known as a purple swing state where recent presidential elections have often been decided within one percentage point. Taylor’s win over Maria Lazar, the Republican-backed candidate, will expand the liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to 5-2.

At her election party, Taylor said the people of Wisconsin stood up for rights, freedoms, democracy, and elections.

“I met people in the smallest towns, in the largest cities, and they were all working to improve our democracy,” Taylor said. “They inspired me every single day to keep going. We live in an incredible state, and people are hungry for a government that works for them.”

Taylor served as a judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and prior to that on the Dane County Circuit Court after nearly a decade in the state Legislature representing parts of Madison and surrounding communities. She was also the policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

She is replacing conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley and will begin a 10-year term on August 1.

At Taylor’s event, Chief Justice Jill Karofsky said judicial races are important for democracy, ensuring that the judicial branch is accountable to the public. Taylor was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers to fill Karofsky’s seat on the Dane County Circuit Court after Karofsky was elected to the Supreme Court in 2020. She won election to the seat for a full term in 2021.

“What struck me most was how much Chris Taylor truly cares about people,” Karofsky said.

Taylor dominated in the state’s Democratic strongholds, Madison and Milwaukee counties, winning 83.8 percent and 75.8 percent of the votes, respectively, according to preliminary data compiled by the Associated Press.

But Taylor also flipped suburban Ozaukee County, which had been reliably Republican. In that county, Taylor won 52.1 percent of the vote. Susan Crawford, the successful liberal candidate in the 2025 Supreme Court election, lost the county with 48.4 percent of the vote. In the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris lost Ozaukee County with 43.9 percent.

In all, Taylor won a majority of the vote in 42 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, according to the AP data. In 2025, Crawford won 23 counties, and Harris in 2024 won 13.

Taylor’s election to the Supreme Court follows those of Crawford and Janet Protasiewicz, two liberal candidates who won elections that each broke national fundraising records for judicial races. Taylor comfortably outraised Lazar, but this race lacked the same stakes of flipping ideological control of the court.

Races for the high court are technically nonpartisan, and candidates tend to repeat the same message that they are independent judges who will assess each case on the facts alone. Candidates stay away from taking a stance on cases that could come before the Supreme Court in the future, which in Wisconsin could include cases about the state’s congressional map and union rights.

But the state’s political parties are still quite involved in these elections. In a statement, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Devin Remiker said Taylor will continue her career of protecting democracy and the freedom of Wisconsin residents.

“Wisconsinites showed up in droves to elect Chris Taylor because they know every election is an emergency,” Remiker said. “Our state Supreme Court has repeatedly shown it is the last line of defense against the federal government’s unconstitutional overreach, and with tonight’s election, we have secured a pro-freedom, pro-democracy majority on the Court through 2030.”

Reprinted with permission from The Wisconsin Independent