1st District Court of Appeals Judge Pedro Colón, a former Dem lawmaker, today launched his campaign for the state Supreme Court, pledging any who appeared before him as a justice would get “a listening ear and a fair shot.”
Colón, the first Latino elected to the state Legislature and the first to serve on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, noted in his announcement that he didn’t speak “a word of English” when he came to Milwaukee as a 10-year-old.
“Our state and our country are at a crossroads,” said Colón, 58. “Some of Wisconsin’s most consequential cases will come before this court over the next decade and I know that I have the experience, judgment, and empathy needed to help decide them.”
Colón joins Clark County Judge Lyndsey Brunette as left-of-center candidates seeking the seat of retiring conservative Justice Annette Ziegler next year. Liberals expanded their majority to 5-2 with Justice-elect Chris Taylor set to join the court Aug. 1 after her win in this month’s election.
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No conservative candidates have announced plans to run yet.
Colón won an Assembly seat in 1998. Then-Gov. Jim Doyle then appointed him to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2010, and Gov. Tony Evers then appointed him to the 1st District Court of Appeals in 2023, and he was unopposed in 2024 for a full six-year term.
Colón previously passed on runs for open seats on the state Supreme Court in 2025 and 2026.