Conservative appeals judge enters race for Wisconsin Supreme Court

MILWAUKEE (CN) — Judge Maria Lazar announced on Wednesday that she is jumping into the 2026 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, looking to fill conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley’s seat.

Since 2022, Lazar has been a judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in District II. The state appellate court is the middleman between the circuit court and the state Supreme Court.

Lazar is joined in the race by a liberal from the state appeals court, Judge Chris Taylor. While this race won’t flip the ideological majority on the bench, it’s likely to be another tense faceoff between conservative and liberal ideas.

Lazar, 61, announced her bid in a video posted to X on Wednesday morning.

“After consulting with my family, friends, colleagues and lots of prayer, I am joining this race and asking for your support, strength, and most importantly, your vote,” Lazar said in her statement.

Lazar pointed to recent campaigns for the Wisconsin Supreme Court as evidence of a highly politicized and damaged system for what should be a nonpartisan role. She says that recent candidates have thrown judicial ethics out the window by openly campaigning on how they would rule in future cases.

“I realize you, the voters, want to hear that information,” Lazar said. “But ethics are important. As I campaign, I will tell you how I have ruled on important issues, how I make decisions, and I promise to never be swayed by political considerations. Trust me. When you learn about my judicial practice, you will be convinced.”

This campaign approach is similar to that of Justice Susan Crawford, who was elected to the state’s high court earlier this year in a record-shattering $100 million race to cement a liberal majority on the bench through 2028.

Crawford, a liberal, also refused to say how she would rule on certain household issues and vowed to apply the law faithfully to the facts of the case.

Still, Crawford’s race exemplifies many of the issues that Lazar points out in her announcement, including the participation of political players. Elon Musk funneled tens of millions into Crawford’s opponent Judge Brad Schimel, and both candidates were endorsed by political parties.

This trend began long before the 2025 race, but Lazar says she will be different.

“We need to elect someone with the courage to stand fast against this devastating trend, and who will appreciate the grave honor they have been given by the people of Wisconsin every time they put on their black robe,” Lazar said.

Lazar began her career as a private practice attorney before moving on to become an assistant attorney general in the bankruptcy department. Her judicial career began on the Waukesha County Circuit Court, where she served for seven years, according to her website.

Taylor, likely to be Lazar’s sole opponent, was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 2011. She continued her work there until 2020, when Governor Tony Evers appointed her to the Dane County Circuit Court to replace Chief Justice Jill Karofsky.

She was subsequently elected to a full term in Dane County and later elected to the state Court of Appeals in District IV. Lazar contrasted herself with Taylor on this point, charging that her opponent “has always been a politician first.”

The spring 2026 race was left wide open by Bradley after she announced in August that she would not seek another 10-year term. She made her announcement after Taylor had already entered the ring, giving her a slight head start on fundraising over Lazar.

In a July campaign finance report, Taylor’s campaign had already raised more than $500,000.

The 2018 and 2025 elections for vacancies on the state Supreme Court brought millions of dollars largely from donors outside of the state. The headline-grabbing campaigns clinched a liberal majority while drawing skepticism from many about the nonpartisan label.

The most potent example of this is Musk’s cash prizes for Schimel voters, a tactic he also utilized during the 2024 presidential election. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is suing Musk for the payouts, claiming them to be illegal voter bribery.

It is yet unclear what Lazar plans to do differently in this campaign to avoid outside influence given the increasing attention paid to the last several races for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but Taylor’s campaign says that rhetoric is a ruse.

“If elected, Maria Lazar would be the most extreme member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” Taylor’s campaign manager Ashley Franz said in a statement. “It’s no surprise that she’s backed by the same right-wing billionaires who tried unsuccessfully to buy a seat on our Supreme Court this last April, which Wisconsinites overwhelmingly rejected.”

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