Democrats romp in Wisconsin Supreme Court race, narrow Georgia margins
University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student Cassie Semenas votes at the Lowell Center residence hall in Madison during the Wisconsin spring election, which includes the state Supreme Court contest, on April 7, 2026.
Joe Timmerman | Wisconsin Watch | Getty Images
Democrats won a 20 percentage point victory in the race for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, while Republicans won a special election for a House seat in Georgia by a much less comfortable margin than in 2024.
Tuesday’s elections underscore strong headwinds for President Donald Trump and Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that could shift the balance of power in Washington and loosen Trump’s grip on power.
Democrat-backed Appellate Court Judge Chris Taylor won a 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, defeating conservative Appellate Court Judge Maria Lazar by nearly 20 percentage points. Associated Press tally.
The race was much more subdued than last year’s Supreme Court contest in Wisconsin, which later became the most expensive state supreme court race in history. Tesla’s owner Elon Musk injected large sums of money to support the losing Republican-backed conservative candidate.
Taylor’s 20-point margin of victory is nearly double that of Judge Susan Crawford, who defeated Musk-backed Brad Schimel by nearly 10 percentage points in 2025. The win solidified liberals’ 5-2 majority on the Wisconsin supreme court.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, Republican Clayton Fuller defeated Democrat Shawn Harris by nearly 12 percentage points in a special election runoff for the House seat vacated by former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Associated Press tally. A win for the Trump-backed Fuller would strengthen the narrow Republican majority in the House of 217 Republicans to 214 Democrats; That’s an effective single-vote margin for Speaker Mike Johnson on any party-line vote.
However, this victory may not be much of a consolation for Republicans, as Democrats are outperforming in the contest. Greene carried the district by 29 percentage points in 2024; That’s more than twice Fuller’s margin of victory.
The result could bode well for Democrats, who hope to retain Sen. Jon Ossoff’s Senate seat in the Peach State and have a shot at gaining a majority in the Senate.
