After a long, expensive, and closely watched race, Wisconsin went to the polls on Tuesday, and voted in a new state Supreme Court justice.

Susan Crawford, a liberal county judge backed by Democrats across the US, defeated the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, who was backed by the national GOP.

In a conversation for Vox’s daily newsletter Today, Explained, I asked politics reporter Christian Paz to break down the big race and its impact. Here’s what he had to say. (Our conversation was edited for length and clarity.)

So, tell me about what happened in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has a seat that’s opening up because one of the Democrats is retiring. (The state’s Supreme Court is technically nonpartisan, but there are “liberals” whom Democrats support and “conservatives” whom Republicans support.)

Right now, Democrats currently have a one-seat ideological majority on the court, and Tuesday’s race was about which party would have the majority for the foreseeable future. Tuesday night, it quickly became clear that would be the Democrats.

For people living in Wisconsin, the chance to decide the ideological makeup of the court was a big........

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