Here and Now
Wisconsin's 2026 Supreme Court Candidates Get Out the Vote
Clip: Season 2400 Episode 2438 | 5m 16sVideo has Closed Captions
Partisan efforts in the 2026 race for Wisconsin Supreme Court consider long-term control.
The 2026 race between Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor for the Wisconsin Supreme Court will not determine its balance of power, but partisan efforts to turn out voters are considering long-term control.
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Here and Now is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Here and Now
Wisconsin's 2026 Supreme Court Candidates Get Out the Vote
Clip: Season 2400 Episode 2438 | 5m 16sVideo has Closed Captions
The 2026 race between Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor for the Wisconsin Supreme Court will not determine its balance of power, but partisan efforts to turn out voters are considering long-term control.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship>> Great.
Well, Anthony Chergosky, thanks very much.
>> Thank you.
>> We're now just four days away from the spring election with justice for Wisconsin Supreme Court on the ballot.
Liberal candidate Chris Taylor has held a commanding fundraising lead over the conservative candidate, Maria Lazar, with most of that money being poured into ads on TV and online.
Now, while this election has held a lower profile than the last two Supreme Court elections, as "Here& Now", senior political reporter Zac Schultz tells us on Tuesday, this race will likely come down to the get out the vote efforts of each campaign.
>> It's a Saturday morning in March, and a crowd of volunteers is busy filling out postcards at the GOP headquarters in Appleton.
>> Address and then sign your name.
Right.
A little something about Lazar or vote on April 7th.
We really got to get out the votes.
voters to support Maria Lazar in the Supreme Court election.
Pam Van Handel is the chair of the Republican Party of Outagamie County.
She says handwritten postcards have a personal touch and are more likely to be read than a glossy campaign flier.
>> So what we're doing is we're looking for people that are more likely to go out and vote in these smaller elections, because it is tough to get people out to vote.
So that's our goal here.
So we get a list from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and we tell them, give us the ones that are really going to go out and vote because we really need them.
April 7th.
Colin Roberts, a member of the Milwaukee County Dems, is knocking doors for Chris Taylor.
>> Oh, okay.
Could I ask who you plan on voting for?
>> The Democratic okay.
>> Yeah, yeah.
So yeah.
Chris Taylor.
>> Technically Supreme Court elections are nonpartizan and candidates use labels like conservative or liberal instead of Republican or Democrat.
But in reality, the Democratic and Republican parties of Wisconsin each donate millions of dollars and coordinate thousands of volunteers in the get out the vote effort.
>> I just think going everywhere is the key and talking to people.
>> Hello, ma'am, I'm Chris Taylor, so nice to meet you.
So nice to meet you, Cornelius.
Oh, you have my vote.
Oh.
>> Thank you.
The Liberal candidate has won four out of the last five Supreme Court elections, flipping a court that in 2019 had A52 conservative majority.
If Taylor wins, Liberals will hold A52 majority.
>> How many of.
You are fired up to protect our democracy?
All right.
>> We are looking at a court that is now 4 to 3.
When I win, it will stay 4 to 3.
We're not changing its composition, but the three votes are so very important.
>> Republicans around the state have expressed worry the backlash to Donald Trump's presidency and political realignment have led to this losing streak.
>> I don't know if it's impacted morale.
What I will say is this I think that the state of Wisconsin is looking at these races and they're asking who's running and why people are running and for what reason.
And when I look at this race, the reason I am running is because I want to be someone on that court who represents the law for the state of Wisconsin.
>> Taylor wants to make sure her supporters don't get complacent with the winning streak.
>> There's four more state Supreme Court elections coming up after mine.
No one should take anything for granted.
This court can change very quickly, but if I am able to get elected, there will be a pro-democracy majority on the court until at least 2030.
>> In their wins.
Rebecca Dallet, Jill Karofsky, Janet Protasiewicz and Susan Crawford each received 55% of the vote.
The 1 conservative victory in this streak was in 2019, when Bryan Hagedorn won by less than 6000 votes, half a percent.
That was a low turnout election, with a million fewer voters than last year.
Hagedorn was outspent and written off by most election observers who expected to see him lose easily.
It's no surprise Lazar hopes this election ends up following the same pattern.
>> Well, secretly, yes.
So the parallels are there.
I think that through my entire career, people have underestimated me.
It's sort of been a theme that they don't think someone a little shorter, a little, little softer spoken can be as strong as steel.
And I am.
And in this race, I think that's important too.
People think that, you know, it's written off, it's a done deal and it's not.
>> Taylor is aware of the Hagedorn comparisons.
>> I won't rest until April 8th, the day after this election.
I take nothing for granted.
This is going to be a hard, competitive race.
I will need every vote that I can get.
I need all the help that I can get from the people.
>> The state of.
>> Wisconsin this weekend will feature the final push for get out the vote efforts.
>> I really feel like the people now are really getting involved at this level, and we're getting more signs out.
We're getting we're just really getting the grassroots going on.
>> With volunteers knocking on doors and reminding their supporters to vote on Tuesday.
location?
location?
Ann Jacobs on a Nationalized Voter List and Mail-in Ballots
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2438 | 6m 15s | Ann Jacobs on an order to create a national voter list and restrict mail-in ballots. (6m 15s)
Anthony Chergosky on the 2026 Wisconsin Supreme Court Debate
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2438 | 5m 57s | Anthony Chergosky on the importance of a debate between Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor. (5m 57s)
Here & Now opening for April 3, 2026
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S2400 Ep2438 | 1m 4s | The introduction to the April 3, 2026 episode of Here & Now. (1m 4s)
Inside Wisconsin Politics: A Voting by Mail Executive Order
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Clip: S2400 Ep2438 | 1m 45s | Inside Wisconsin Politics on an executive order calling for a national voter list. (1m 45s)
A Movement to Connect Generations Takes on a Crisis of Care
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