Lazar (R) follows conservative candidate playbook in claiming mantle of impartiality

[RandySF]

Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar, the conservative candidate in the race for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, has built her campaign around the idea that she will be an independent justice while her opponent, Appeals Court Judge and former Democratic legislator Chris Taylor, will be a partisan actor on the bench.

Lazar has frequently said on the campaign trail that she’s “never been a member of a political party” — a claim aided by the fact that Lazar has never served in partisan office and Wisconsin voters don’t register their party affiliation — while at a recent event Taylor, who served in the state Assembly for nine years, affirmed that she’s a Democrat.

The argument of the Lazar campaign closely mirrors the arguments made by the last two conservative candidates for the Court.

Last year, former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel frequently said that as a justice he’d be like a baseball umpire, simply calling balls and strikes about the law. During the 2023 race, former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly said that if he was elected Wisconsin would have “the rule of law” while if his opponent Janet Protasiewicz were elected Wisconsin would have the “rule of Janet.”



https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/03/16/lazar-follows-conservative-candidate-playbook-in-claiming-mantle-of-impartiality/

[mwmisses4289]

1. There's a reason they are called "cons".