2026 Wisconsin Supreme Court election
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The 2026 Wisconsin Supreme Court election will be held on April 7, 2026, to elect a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term. The incumbent justice, Rebecca Bradley, has announced that she will run for re-election. Bradley has served on the court since 2015, she was initially appointed by Governor Scott Walker and was elected to her first ten-year term in 2016. Bradley is associated with the conservative minority on the court, and therefore the 2026 election is not expected to affect the ideological majority of the court.
If more than two candidates file for this seat, a nonpartisan primary election will be held on February 17, 2026, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the April 7 general election. The filing deadline to appear on the ballot in the 2026 election is January 1, 2026.
Candidates
Incumbent justice Rebecca Bradley has announced that she intends to seek re-election. This will make her the first incumbent justice to seek re-election since 2020, and the first previously-elected incumbent to seek re-election since 2017. If she is opposed on the ballot, 2026 will be the first election since 2015 in which a previously-elected incumbent has faced a challenger for re-election.
It has been historically rare for an incumbent to lose a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, with this only having occurred eight times (1855, 1908, 1917, 1947, 1958, 1967, 2008, and 2020). Additionally, only two of those defeats (1855 and 1967) were defeats of a previously-elected incumbent like Bradley (the other five defeats were of appointed incumbents); and 1855 is the only time an incumbent justice was defeated after previously having won a contested election (the incumbent defeated in 1967 had won their previous election without a contested race).[1]
Declared
- Rebecca Bradley, incumbent Supreme Court justice (2015–present)[2]
Publicly expressed interest
- Chris Taylor, Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge (2023–present) and former state representative (2011–2019)[3]
Potential
- Rachel Graham, Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge (2019–present)[2]
Declined
- Pedro Colón, Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge (2023–present) and former state representative (1999–2011)[4]
- Sara Geenen, Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge (2023–present)[2]
See also
References
- ^ Multiple sources:
- Ostermeier, Eric (April 11, 2011). "The Incumbency Advantage in Wisconsin Supreme Court Elections". Smart Politics. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
- Johnson, Shawn (April 14, 2020). "Jill Karofsky Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Defeating Conservative Incumbent". WPR. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
- ^ a b c "Conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley planning to seek reelection in 2026". WisPolitics. April 4, 2025. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
- ^ Beck, Molly (April 5, 2025). "Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley announces she'll seek another 10-year term". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 5, 2025.
- ^ Ross, JR (April 15, 2025). "SCOWIS '26 nuggets: Pedro Colon won't run, citing personal reasons. Fellow liberal appeals court Judge Chris Taylor has been "heartened" by encouragement, will have more to say bid coming weeks". Twitter (X).
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