Crucial Decision: Wisconsin Voters to Shape Future with 2026 Supreme Court Election

In a pivotal election this Tuesday, residents of Wisconsin will head to the polls to select a new justice for the state Supreme Court, a decision that could either solidify or broaden the court’s liberal dominance. Simultaneously, the city of Waukesha is poised for its first mayoral election featuring an open seat in two decades.

These elections stand out as key components of Wisconsin’s spring electoral events, which will see decisions made in races for judicial, municipal, and educational roles. These positions, typically nonpartisan, are decided away from the heated and overtly partisan atmosphere of the November elections.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

In the Supreme Court race, the candidates vying for the seat of retiring conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley are state Appeals Court judges Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar. Taylor, a former Democratic state legislator, has the backing of the court’s four liberal justices. Lazar, who previously served as assistant state attorney general under ex-Republican Governor Scott Walker, is supported by conservative Justice Annette Ziegler, who recently announced she won’t seek re-election in 2027.

Although this year’s Supreme Court race hasn’t captured as much attention as some previous contests, its significance remains. The selected justice will join a bench that could become a focal point during politically charged disputes surrounding the 2028 presidential election or future congressional redistricting battles anticipated in the early 2030s. Justices serve on the bench for terms lasting a decade.

Liberals are pushing for their fourth straight victory in the state Supreme Court. The liberal faction secured a 4-3 majority in 2023 for the first time in fifteen years, following Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s win over a conservative predecessor. The liberal majority was further cemented in 2025 when Justice Susan Crawford was elected, despite significant financial backing for the conservative candidate from Elon Musk and associated groups.

In any statewide election in Wisconsin, Democrats tend to win by large margins in the populous counties of Milwaukee and Dane (home to Madison), while Republicans win by wide margins in the smaller, more rural counties that stretch across most of the state. Republican candidates also tend to rely on strong showings in the “WOW” counties – Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington in suburban Milwaukee – which help counter Democratic advantages in urban areas. Victory is determined by how big those margins are in the respective party strongholds, as well as which side can win over the more competitive swing areas.

In the 2024 presidential election, then-Vice President Kamala Harris won Milwaukee County with 68% of the vote and Dane County with 75%, while narrowly losing statewide. In comparison, Protasiewicz and Crawford in their successful state Supreme Court races received 73% and 75% of the vote in Milwaukee County and 82% of the vote in Dane County. They both won statewide with double-digit margins of victory.

Protasiewicz and Crawford each also won more than 10 swing counties that voted for Trump in 2024, most notably in Brown County, home to Green Bay, which Trump carried in all three of his White House campaigns.

In the race for Waukesha mayor, Common Council President Alicia Halvensleben and state Rep. Scott Allen are running to replace Mayor Shawn Reilly, who is not seeking a fourth term. Allen has been one of the most conservative Republicans in the Legislature since his election in 2014. Halvensleben is the preferred candidate of the Waukesha County Democratic Party.

Reilly is an independent who left the Republican Party after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He has endorsed Halvensleben.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Recounts are not automatic in Wisconsin, but a trailing candidate may request one if the winning vote margin is less than a percentage point. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, which is 9 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the races for state Supreme Court and Waukesha mayor.

Who gets to vote?

Any registered voter in Wisconsin may participate in the spring election.

What do turnout and advance vote look like?

As of April 1, there were about 3.6 million active registered voters in Wisconsin out of about 4.5 million eligible voting-age adults. Voters in the state do not register by party.

Nearly 2.4 million votes were cast in the 2025 spring election for state Supreme Court, which was about 62% of registered voters. About 29% of voters cast their ballots before election day.

As of Friday, nearly 281,000 ballots had already been cast.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2025 spring election, the AP first reported results in the race for state Supreme Court at 9:09 p.m. ET, or nine minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 2:12 a.m. ET with about 99% of total votes counted. The race was called at 10:16 p.m. ET.

When are early and absentee votes released?

In previous Wisconsin elections, counties varied in terms of when and how they released results from early and absentee voting. In the 2024 general election, roughly a third of the counties released all or most of their early and absentee voting results in the first vote update, while the rest released them throughout the night along with results from in-person Election Day voting.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 210 days until the 2026 midterm elections.