From Blockbusters to Boring? Previewing Wisconsin's 2026 state Supreme Court race
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court elections are among the most closely watched springtime contests for election nerds, even as they have, as of late, produced relatively lopsided results that don’t necessarily reflect the state’s typical purple character.
But next week’s contest feels different from the blockbuster court races that have defined the past several cycles. In fact, even for those of us who follow elections closely, it has been easy to forget that Wisconsin is having a state Supreme Court race at all.
One reason for the sleepier nature of the 2026 court race could be the fact that control of the 7-member body is not up for grabs this time. While these judicial seats are nominally nonpartisan, they have increasingly taken on a two-party feel, with Democrats endorsing and campaigning for liberal justices and Republicans doing the same with conservatives. With 10-year terms and a 7-member court, a Supreme Court race is on the ballot most but not all years in Wisconsin.
Liberals currently hold a 4–3 majority on the court; they won control of the court with a key flip in 2023 and held their majority in last year’s very high-spending race. Since the 2023 election, the court has acted as something of a counterweight to the GOP-controlled legislature, although it has not given national Democrats everything they’d have liked. For instance, the court ordered that the state’s legislative lines, which were favorable to Republicans, be redrawn ahead of the 2024 elections. But it has not thrown out the state’s U.S. House map. During the 2025 campaign, conservatives warned that if liberals were allowed to keep the majority, Republicans would lose two House seats in the state—while Wisconsin might be able to redistrict mid-decade depending on the results of this year’s elections (more on that later), the current map, where Republicans currently enjoy a 6-2 advantage, appears locked in for 2026.
https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/from-blockbusters-to-boring-previewing-wisconsins-2026-state-supreme-court-race/