From New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is a Daily.

Today in Wisconsin, a local election to replace a single judge could end up reshaping national

politics for years to come. My colleague Reid Evesin explains,

it's Tuesday, April 4.

So, Reid, tell us about today's election in Wisconsin.

Right, so it's election day again in Wisconsin.

And the voters, at least those who haven't voted early, are going to pick between two candidates

to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.

You know, these elections for years have been pre-boring low-key, low-money elections.

Right, these tend to be very obscure races. I can remember filling out a ballot here in New York

and struggling to recognize any of the names of the candidates for New York's state Supreme Court.

No offense to any of the candidates.

Right, and that's how they are in a lot of the country

where you have judicial races that nobody knows who they are, a lot of them are uncontested.

But this year, the State Supreme Court election in Wisconsin has soaked up all of the political attention in the state and beyond.

And it's become the most expensive judicial race in American history.

And that is because this election is probably the single most important election in American politics this year.

Wow, that's a very bold proclamation for essentially a local judgeship.

Well, Michael, you have to remember we're talking about Wisconsin here.

And it's basically a 50-50 state split between Democratic and Republican voters.

But despite that being the case since 2011, it's really become a radical experiment in one party rule.

Right, Republican party rule.

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