I Hoped to Eat Crow Today. Instead, I Have to Say:

I truly hoped I would be wrong.

I hoped I would wake up this morning and have to eat crow.

I hoped Maria Lazar would shock the experts, defy the money gap, overcome the turnout headwinds, and prove that the warnings so many of us saw in the numbers were overblown.

Instead, Chris Taylor won Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, expanding the liberals’ majority on the court to 5-2.

The court of “Cackling Karen’s” is now in session.

Multiple outlets described it as a decisive or landslide win, and the result locks in liberal control of the court through at least 2030.

Think about that.

So yes, sadly, this is the part where I have to write the sentence I hoped I would not have to write:

I told you so.

Not because I wanted to. Not because I enjoy being right about bad news.

And certainly not because this result is anything to celebrate for conservatives in Wisconsin.

But the warning signs were there.

The money imbalance was there.

The vulnerability was there.

The enthusiasm gap was there.

The early-vote slowdown was there.

And now the result is there too. WPR had already reported before Election Day that absentee returns were running far behind the comparable point in the 2025 race, a sign that 2026 was shaping up as a lower-energy election where organization and turnout machinery would matter even more.

But why are they still running at all? With everything we have learned about the “System”

I don’t care what side of the fence you are on. If you, the one reading these words are still voting absentee and not 100 percent indefinitely confined. Then SHAME ON YOU.

And that is exactly why the mood on the right this morning is not just disappointment. It is fury.

What stands out most in the grassroots reaction is that many conservatives are not lashing out at Maria Lazar.

Quite the opposite. There is real respect for her willingness to step into a race that many already understood would be uphill.

She is being credited for showing courage, for taking the fight when others would not, and for carrying the banner despite the odds.

The anger is going elsewhere.

It is going straight at the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

The loudest message from grassroots conservatives this morning is not, “We needed better voters.” It is, “Stop blaming the voters.” Over and over, the theme is the same: if turnout was weak, if enthusiasm was weak, if the message did not connect, if the base was uninspired, then that is not first and foremost a voter failure.

That is a leadership failure.

That is a party failure.

That is an infrastructure failure.

And honestly, that complaint is hard to dismiss.

Because how many times can the same people run the same playbook, lose the same kind of statewide races, and then turn around and scold the base for not being motivated enough?

At some point, that is not analysis. It is arrogance. At some point, that is not leadership. It is deflection.

What I am seeing from conservatives this morning is a deepening belief that RPW has become a machine that monopolizes control but avoids accountability.

The frustration is not just over one race.

It is over a pattern. A pattern where the grassroots are expected to donate, volunteer, turn out, bring friends, knock doors, and stay loyal; while the party establishment keeps making the same decisions, producing the same outcomes, and blaming the same people when it fails.

That is not a sustainable model.

It is a recipe for alienation.

Some conservatives are also making a second argument this morning, one that party leadership ignores at its own risk: they do not believe the base can be endlessly lectured back into submission while core concerns remain unaddressed.

Wisconsin STILL has very real major issues regarding; election integrity, MyVote, Megan Wolfe, Harry Wait, or the broader feeling that Republican officeholders talk tough but govern soft, the message is the same.

Do not ask people to show up enthusiastically for a party they believe has spent years backstabbing, dismissing, or ignoring them. While a majority of the base still refuses to show up in person at all?

And here is the truth the establishment may not want to hear: insulting your own voters after another loss is not strategy.

It is political malpractice.

This race was not lost because conservatives on social media failed to post hard enough.

It was not lost because county activists did not care enough.

It was not lost because the grassroots forgot what was at stake.

It was lost in a broader environment where Taylor had a major structural advantage, where liberals once again treated the court like a must-win power center, and where conservatives went into a statewide election underfunded, underpowered, and visibly divided.

Taylor dramatically outspent Lazar on TV advertising, while WPR and others described the result as a major boost for Democrats heading deeper into the 2026 cycle.

That is why this loss matters so much beyond the court itself.

Because now comes the governor’s race.

And if Republicans think they can stumble out of this defeat, brush it off, blame the base, and march into the gubernatorial contest as if nothing has been exposed, they are fooling themselves.

This Supreme Court race was not just a loss. It was a warning shot.

It showed where the energy is. It showed where the money is. It showed which side still understands that power requires organization, not just outrage.

Mainstream spin doctors explicitly note Taylor’s win comes months before the November 2026 elections, when Democrats are trying to hold the governor’s office and improve their broader standing in Wisconsin.

That does not mean the governor’s race is doomed for Republicans. But it does mean the fantasy season should be over.

If Wisconsin conservatives could not close ranks in a statewide Supreme Court race, if the party could not motivate the base without insulting it, if the grassroots are now openly revolting against RPW’s blame-shifting, then the gubernatorial race ahead is not just another campaign.

It is a test of whether Republicans in Wisconsin are capable of serious self-correction.

Because this is what is really at stake now: not simply whether Republicans can beat Democrats in one race, but whether the Wisconsin right can rebuild trust with its own voters before it is too late.

If RPW responds to this loss with another round of excuses, another round of consultant spin, and another round of finger-pointing at the base, then this morning’s anger will not fade. It will harden. And if it hardens, Republicans will carry not just a turnout problem into the governor’s race. They will carry a legitimacy problem with their own people.

That is fatal territory.

I wish I were writing a different article today.

I wish I were saying the numbers lied, the warnings failed, and Maria Lazar pulled off the upset.

I would have been happy to eat crow.

Instead, I have to say what many did not want to hear before Election Day, and even fewer want to hear now:

The warning signs were real.

The imbalance was real.

The vulnerability was real.

The anger inside the conservative base is real.

And if Wisconsin Republicans do not face that reality right now, they may be hearing “I told you so” all over again after the governor’s race in November. Understanding that, just makes common sense. Wouldn’t you agree?

THIS ARTICLE IS A FOLLOW UP TO THE ARTICLE BELOW WRITTEN BEFORE THE SPRING ELECTIONS: