Campaign finance reports show spending on this year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race is a tiny fraction of last year’s, which happened to be the most expensive judicial election in American history.
Sharply lower campaign spending has defined Wisconsin’s 2026 Supreme Court race, a subdued contest that stands in stark contrast to the record-shattering millions poured into last year’s battle for the state’s highest court.
Liberal Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor and her allies have heavily outspent conservative Court of Appeals Judge Maria Lazar and her backers, but the overall sums remain a fraction of the more than $100 million spent on the 2025 race. That earlier contest, fueled by national attention and big-money donors including George Soros, JB Pritzker, and Elon Musk, set a national record for a judicial election and drove turnout to historic spring levels.
This year’s matchup has drawn far less outside interest and investment, with total spending on advertising and related efforts estimated in the low millions.
Campaign finance reports show Taylor raising roughly four times as much as Lazar in the final pre-election period, with her campaign and supporters spending millions more on television ads alone. Taylor’s side has outspent Lazar’s by ratios reported as high as 15-to-1 on ads and turnout operations in some tallies.
Lazar has relied more on in-state support and limited outside help, including contributions from major Republican donors, but has not attracted the flood of national dollars that defined prior cycles. Overall outside group spending has remained modest compared with the torrent of funds in 2025.
The reduced financial arms race reflects the race’s limited stakes: A Taylor victory would expand the current 4-3 liberal majority to 5-2, while a Lazar win would leave the ideological balance unchanged. Without a court majority hanging in the balance, big donors on both sides have largely sat on the sidelines, resulting in fewer attack ads, less media buzz and lower voter awareness.
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