WASHINGTON – Wisconsin voters will choose a new state Supreme Court justice in a Tuesday election that will either maintain or expand the court’s liberal majority. Meanwhile, the city of Waukesha will hold its first open-seat mayoral race in 20 years.
The contests are among the notable highlights of Wisconsin’s spring election, where races for judicial, municipal, educational, and other traditionally nonpartisan offices will be decided beyond the din of the more explicitly partisan November elections.
In the race for the high court, state Appeals Court judges Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar are running to replace retiring Justice Rebecca Bradley from the court’s conservative bloc. Taylor, a former Democratic state representative, boasts endorsements from the court’s four sitting liberal justices. In contrast, Lazar, who served as assistant state attorney general under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, is backed by conservative Justice Annette Ziegler, who will not seek a third term in 2027.
While this year’s contest has not garnered the same level of attention as recent Wisconsin Supreme Court races—largely because the ideological balance of the bench is not at stake—the winner will play a crucial role in future political battles, especially concerning disputes related to the 2028 presidential election or the next round of congressional redistricting in the early 2030s. Justices serve 10-year terms.
Liberals are aiming for their fourth consecutive state Supreme Court victory this year. They achieved a 4-3 majority on the court in 2023 for the first time in 15 years after Justice Janet Protasiewicz won a seat previously held by a conservative. This was followed by Justice Susan Crawford joining the court in 2025, preserving the liberal majority despite significant financial backing for conservative candidates from high-profile donors like Elon Musk.
In statewide elections, Democrats often dominate in populous counties like Milwaukee and Dane, home to Madison, while Republicans fare better in the smaller, rural counties that make up much of Wisconsin. Republican candidates also depend on strong performances in the “WOW” counties—Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington—located in suburban Milwaukee, which help counteract Democratic advantages in urban areas. Ultimately, victory hinges on the margins in these party strongholds and the ability to capture competitive swing districts.
In the 2024 presidential election, then-Vice President Kamala Harris won Milwaukee County with 68% of the vote and Dane County with 75%, yet lost statewide. In contrast, Protasiewicz and Crawford received 73% and 75% of the vote in Milwaukee County and 82% in Dane County, respectively, both achieving statewide victories with double-digit margins.
Both justices also succeeded in winning over more than 10 swing counties that had voted for Trump in 2024, including Brown County, home to Green Bay, which Trump had carried in all three of his presidential campaigns.
In Waukesha, the race for mayor features Common Council President Alicia Halvensleben and state Rep. Scott Allen vying to succeed Mayor Shawn Reilly, who is stepping down after three terms. Allen has established himself as one of the most conservative Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature since his election in 2014, while Halvensleben is the favored candidate of the Waukesha County Democratic Party.
Reilly, who previously identified as a Republican, left the party following the events of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and has endorsed Halvensleben for the upcoming election.
The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it is determined that no scenario could allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race remains undecided, the AP will continue to report on significant developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, clarifying that it has not yet declared a winner and explaining the reasons behind its decision.
While recounts are not automatic in Wisconsin, trailing candidates may request one if the winning margin is less than a percentage point. The AP may declare a winner in a race eligible for a recount if it can determine that the lead is too substantial for a recount or legal challenge to alter the outcome.
Here are some key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:
Election Details
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 approximately 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, representing 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, just 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 officially called at 10:16 p.m. ET.
When are early and absentee votes released?
In previous Wisconsin elections, counties differed in their timing and methods of releasing results from early and absentee voting. In the 2024 general election, approximately a third of the counties released all or most of their early and absentee voting results in the first vote update, while others released them throughout the night alongside results from in-person
