Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley will not seek reelection

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley will not seek reelection next spring, saying the best path in her “fight for liberty is not as a minority member of the Court.”

The decision puts to bed speculation about the intentions of Bradley, a stalwart of the court’s conservative minority.

Bradley had indicated she would seek an additional term on the court in April, after the election of liberal Justice Susan Crawford solidified the high court’s majority for years to come.

But campaign finance reports from earlier this summer revealed she had raised no money for reelection, sparking speculation that she might not run.

In a statement sent to WisPolitics, Bradley said she is seeking to “rebuild the conservative movement.”

“For years I have warned that under the control of judicial activists, the court will make itself more powerful than the legislature, more powerful than the governor,” she said. “That warning went unheeded, and Wisconsin has seen only the beginning of what is an alarming shift from thoughtful, principled judicial service toward bitter partisanship, personal attacks, and political gamesmanship that have no place in court.”

“The conservative movement needs to take stock of its failures, identify the problem, and fix it,” she added.

She did not immediately respond to WPR’s request for comment.

An open race for spring Supreme Court contest

The decision leaves Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor of Madison, who is a former Democratic member of the state Assembly, without a declared opponent for the April election.

In a statement, Taylor’s campaign manager, Ashley Franz, said Bradley’s announcement doesn’t change her plans. 

“No matter who Republicans and right-wing special interests recruit to run against her, Wisconsinites will once again have a clear choice between a candidate who believes in stripping rights away and Judge Taylor, who has always been on the side of the people,” Franz said.

Bradley’s announcement leaves no clear contender to replace her, although conservatives have a strong bench of jurists, including Waukesha-based Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar, whose name has been floated in past elections.

In a statement posted to social media on Friday, Lazar said she is “seriously considering a run,” and will make her decision in the coming weeks. 

But more broadly, Bradley’s decision speaks to challenges that Wisconsin Republicans and their preferred candidates have in nonpresidential races. That problem has grown particularly acute over the last decade. As President Donald Trump has grown to be his party’s standard-bearer, some conservative voters have been less likely to turn out when Trump’s name is not on the ballot. 

The Wisconsin Republican Party recently conducted an analysis of their weaknesses  in nonpresidential races, and particularly spring Supreme Court races. 

Liberals have consistently held an advantage in Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, winning five of the last six races by 10 percentage points. The last conservative to win a contested high court race was Brian Hagedorn in 2019 — who eked out a victory by half a point. 

Political scientists say that, while state Democrats have successfully nationalized the stakes of these races, Republicans have been slower to do so, attracting fewer out-of-state donors. 

These challenges aren’t likely to be resolved by April 7, 2026: next year’s Supreme Court election day. But it’ll be an early test of how conservatives respond to winds that hand them strong presidential Novembers and weak springtime and midterm races.

Meanwhile, liberals are likely to hold the court until at least 2028, after Crawford’s victory this year, with high court elections scheduled for every spring through 2030.