Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor won election to the Wisconsin supreme court on Tuesday, giving liberals a 5-2 edge on the court.
She beat conservative Maria Lazar, consolidating the liberal hold on the high court ahead of the next presidential election, when the swing state is sure to see challenges to election results.
“Once again, Wisconsin showed the entire nation that we believe that the people should be at the center of government and the priority of our judiciary, not the billionaires, not the most powerful and privileged, but the people,” Taylor said in her victory speech.
Taylor’s win gives liberals a 5-2 bloc on the bench. Taylor is seen as friendly to voting rights, while Lazar’s views aligned more closely with Republicans, pushing for policies that could hinder voting access and impact. Lazar had continued to defend maps in Wisconsin that were gerrymandered to lead to more Republican victories, which have since been overturned.
Liberals are now guaranteed to hold a majority on the court until at least 2030. Wisconsin Republican party chair Brian Schimming, in the wake of Lazar’s double-digit defeat, called for Republicans to “stay united and continue fighting for our conservative values.”
The race is another gauge of Democrats’ durability in this year’s midterms, particularly in a closely watched swing state, though the November ticket and voter turnout will be much different than a court election.
Democratic candidates have recently won upset victories throughout the country in places typically held by Republicans, giving them momentum heading into November. Voters often side against the president in midterm elections.
Shortly before his 8pm ET deadline for Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz, or face the death of its “whole civilization”, Donald Trump posted on social media that the US had reached a temporary ceasefire agreement with Iran. Details of the agreement are still forthcoming and bombing continues across the region.
Iranian officials will meet with the United States for talks beginning Friday. Pakistan, which brokered the ceasefire agreement, will host the negotiations in Islamabad.
The Pentagon will hold a press briefing at 8am ET today. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to attend.
Some Democrats criticized the ceasefire deal, saying its terms, if true, would cede major concessions to Iran, including control over the strait of Hormuz. Others, including New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for Congress to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office after he “threatened a genocide against the Iranian people”.
Several Republicans cheered the president’s decision, casting it as shrewd and tactical. “This is a strong first step toward holding Iran accountable,” said senator Rick Scott of Florida.
Shelly Kittleson, the US journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad by the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah last week, has been released, said secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Repulican Clay Fuller won Georgia’s special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in the House of Representatives. In line with special elections for Congress since the start of Trump’s term, his Democratic rival, Shawn Harris, overperformed.
