A contest for control of Wisconsin’s top court may be even nastier and more expensive than its bitter 2023 predecessor, with the fate of an 1849 abortion ban and other policies at stake.
Tens of millions of dollars flooding into a state election. A nakedly political candidate for a judgeship. Huge policy stakes for a key battleground state.
Two years ago, a race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court vividly demonstrated how local elections that once flew under the radar were becoming expensive, nationalized and highly partisan affairs.
Now, Democrats and Republicans in Wisconsin are preparing for yet another contest in April that will again determine control of the state’s top court — and with it the fate of abortion rights, labor rights and two congressional districts.
The race is likely to be even more partisan, negative and expensive than the 2023 election, whose $56 million price tag shattered national spending records for a judicial contest.
The election will be the first test of Democratic and Republican enthusiasm in the new Trump era, and it will unfold in the state where the new president won his narrowest margin of victory. With few marquee contests in 2025 — and no other statewide races until November — Wisconsin’s court race stands out as potentially the biggest, highest-stakes election in the year after Mr. Trump’s return to power.
And while the contest is formally nonpartisan, it has already been stripped of any veneer of nonpartisanship.