Barely a week after this year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election, a candidate has entered the race for next year.
Clark County Judge Lyndsey Boon Brunette declared Thursday that she’ll run to replace outgoing Justice Annette Ziegler, who announced her retirement from the court in March.
In a video, Brunette highlighted her background as a former prosecutor and said she’d work to apply the law “fairly and equally.”
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“Justice shouldn’t depend on who you are, your politics or how much money you have,” she said. “Judges should follow the facts and the law, respect the Constitution and protect the rights and freedoms of everyone.”
While Supreme Court justices are technically nonpartisan positions, in recent years, the candidates have been backed by one party or another. Brunette was elected to be Clark County district attorney as a Democrat. In her announcement, she spoke about “protecting your personal health care rights,” which previous liberal candidates have used to describe supporting abortion rights.
Brunette enters a wide open race, with the incumbent Ziegler bowing out. And she’s looking to join a court that’s been radically transformed in recent years, with liberals clinching a decisive 5-2 majority earlier this month with the election of Justice-elect Chris Taylor. That win means liberals will control the court through at least 2030.
From left, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Rebecca Dallet, Janet Protasiewicz, Susan Crawford, and former Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, right, celebrate Judge Chris Taylor’s win Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the Madison Concourse Hotel in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Meanwhile, conservatives have struggled to entice candidates into the race, as their side faces demographic headwinds during spring elections. The retirements of Ziegler, and conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley last year, speak to an understanding that the high court will be out of their control for years to come.
Brunette lives in Neillsville, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the William Mitchell College of Law. She was the first woman to be Clark County DA when she was elected in 2012. She previously worked in Minneapolis, including under Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar when Klobuchar was a county attorney.
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