The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in the state of Wisconsin and has jurisdiction over all other Wisconsin courts. There are seven justices on the state’s court of last resort, who are selected in statewide nonpartisan elections to serve 10-year terms.
Incumbent Justice Rebecca Bradley has been serving on the court since 2015 but decided not to seek re-election this year. Therefore, an election was held on Tuesday, April 7 to elect one justice to fill this seat for the next decade.
The two candidates for this position on the spring 2026 election ballot were Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar. Over 1.5 million Wisconsinites cast their votes that day, and by 8:36 p.m., Taylor was declared the winner. The Wisconsin Supreme Court will now increase its liberal majority to 5-2.
In Eau Claire County, 67.93 percent voted for Taylor, and 31.95 percent voted for Lazar.
From 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day, on-campus Blugolds had the opportunity to vote in Davies Student Center. Representatives from the UW-Eau Claire College Republicans and College Democrats set up tables on lower campus to show their support for specific candidates and talk with students.
According to Tatiana Bobrowicz, chair of the College Republicans, her organization backed Lazar for Wisconsin Supreme Court because she is “fair and impartial.”
“What’s at stake here is true justice in Wisconsin — being able to have a justice system that is fair and unbiased and not focused on getting laws passed or getting your agenda passed but rather focused on judging laws per our constitution,” Bobrowicz said.
Emma Steffen, chair of the College Democrats, said her organization mainly supported Taylor for Wisconsin Supreme Court and Jeremy Gragert for Eau Claire City Council president.
“We think that they’re both progressive candidates that can help move Wisconsin and Eau Claire in the right direction,” Steffen said.
Gragert, a former city councilman, ran against Scott Rogers for the position and received 60 percent of the votes in his favor, naming him the winner.
Three open seats were also on the Eau Claire spring election ballot for the Eau Claire School Board. These were filled by Pa Thao with 26 percent of the votes, Lori Bica with 25 percent and Jarrett Dement with 19 percent.
Harrison Jedd, vice chair of the College Democrats, said his organization supported all three of these candidates and noted the importance of this election.
“The nonpartisan elections are super important, because they’re typically your local elections, and local elections are really where we can see change,” Jedd said.
Several area school districts proposed referendums in this spring election, asking for increased funding anywhere from $1.8 million to $24.8 million. This included Altoona, Augusta, Cornell, Eleva-Strum and Fall Creek. Only Augusta lost, with 55.75 percent voting against the referendum.
According to Bobrowicz, students don’t always understand why these elections should matter to them, and she encourages them to get involved.
“It does matter, and it may not impact you today, but it will impact you within a year,” Bobrowicz said. “I can guarantee you that a lot of things we complain about in society could’ve been prevented if we actually [did] our diligence and [voted].”
Matczak can be reached at [email protected].
