In a stunning electoral verdict, Judge Chris Taylor has secured a landslide victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, defeating Judge Maria Lazar by a decisive 20-point margin. This result, the largest winning margin in such a race for 26 years, represents a significant rejection of a campaign strategy heavily reliant on demonising transgender people.
Lazar’s campaign centred on a series of advertisements framing transgender rights as a threat, a tactic reminiscent of strategies employed by some Republicans in the 2024 election cycle. One notable ad featured a mother expressing fear that her daughter’s sporting dreams and safety were endangered by "activists like Chris Taylor." Lazar herself used social media to accuse Taylor of supporting policies that would "allow boys in girls' sports." Conservative outlets further targeted Taylor’s legislative record, which included authoring bills to support transgender rights.
Despite this concerted effort, Judge Taylor, who did not disavow her pro-LGBTQ+ record, cruised to a 60-40 victory. The win expands the court’s liberal majority to 5-2, its largest since at least the 1970s. The scale of the victory was geographically sweeping, with Taylor carrying over 20 counties that had voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Remarkably, she flipped Ozaukee County, part of a traditionally Republican stronghold in southeastern Wisconsin. In the liberal bastion of Dane County, Lazar received just 16% of the vote, the worst performance ever for a conservative candidate there.
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups celebrated the result. Fair Wisconsin posted a message thanking voters "for voting for equality," while the ACLU stated the outcome proved the greatest impact could be made at the state level. The victory holds immediate significance for Wisconsin, where Republican legislators have repeatedly, though unsuccessfully, attempted to pass anti-transgender legislation, with Governor Tony Evers issuing vetoes as recently as last week.
This Wisconsin race is the latest example of a clear electoral trend. In the 2025 Virginia governor’s race, Democrat Abigail Spanberger won by 13 points despite most Republican ad spending attacking transgender rights. A similar pattern played out in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race and in Wisconsin’s own 2025 Supreme Court contest, where a candidate backed by anti-trans advertising lost by 10 points. The consecutive results suggest campaigns centred on anti-transgender messaging are failing to resonate with a majority of voters.
The outcome also highlights a strategic divide among Democrats. Following the 2024 election, some strategists urged candidates to distance themselves from transgender issues. However, the Democrats securing historic victories—figures like Spanberger, New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill, Wisconsin’s previous winner Susan Crawford, and now Chris Taylor—have notably refused to abandon their support for transgender rights, winning decisively at the ballot box.
