Democrat Rebecca Cooke launches bid to unseat Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin battleground seat
WASHINGTON – Rebecca Cooke is hoping the third time really is the charm.
The Eau Claire Democrat will launch another campaign to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden in the state's 3rd Congressional District after losing her previous bid by just under three points this past November. It will be her third consecutive run for the western Wisconsin House seat.
'I think there needs to be a check on this administration's worst instincts, and Derrick Van Orden is somebody that is like a talking head for those folks,' Cooke told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week. 'I think that we need to hold people accountable and really put their feet to the fire.'
She plans to formally announce her campaign at a farm in Chippewa Falls on Tuesday morning.
The move officially kicks off the 2026 race for Wisconsin's tightest battleground district. Cooke, who fell to Van Orden by about 2.8 points last cycle but ran ahead of the top of her ticket in the process, is the only Democrat to announce a run so far. She first ran for the seat in 2022 but placed second in the Democratic primary that year.
Cooke, 37, told the Journal Sentinel this week that she believes key issues like health care costs and women's reproductive rights 'only are going to get exemplified' under the first two years of the Trump administration. She pointed to recent cuts to agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the new administration's tariffs on top trading partners as developments that will significantly impact Wisconsin farmers and businesses.
More: Tony Evers slams congressional Republicans for not pushing back on Trump tariffs
Last year, Cooke campaigned as a moderate Democrat seeking to take on 'Big Ag' and make health care more accessible. Those issues are still prominent, she said.
'I think there's just a finer point to that, and I know they're not going to get better,' she said of her top campaign issues. 'In fact, they will probably get worse.'
Another factor motivating Cooke is her performance this past November.
She gained about 9,000 more raw votes in the district than former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the 3rd District to President Donald Trump by 7.4 points, and about 5,000 more votes than Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who lost the region to Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde by about 4 points, though won statewide.
Van Orden and Republicans, for their part, have noted Van Orden defeated Cooke in 2024 by a nearly identical margin to his victory over Democratic state Sen. Brad Pfaff in 2022 — about 11,000 votes — despite a higher turnout last year.
A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee this week called Cooke 'a deeply radical and sleazy political activist who remains out-of-touch with Western Wisconsin.'
'Wisconsinites rejected proven loser Rebecca Cooke last year and will do the same in 2026,' said Zach Bannon, the NRCC spokesman.
Still, some Democrats have pointed to Cooke's November performance as evidence the district is in play for the party in 2026. Top national Democratic groups like House Majority PAC have signaled they'll continue to focus on the 3rd Congressional District after spending millions more than their Republican counterparts there in 2024.
The looming question now is whether other Democrats plan to jump into the race.
Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge told the Journal Sentinel this week she is seriously considering a run, but no other Wisconsin Democrat has publicly expressed interest in running for the seat.
A source close to Pfaff, who defeated Cooke in the 2022 Democratic primary, told the Journal Sentinel that the Onalaska Democrat initially ruled out another run for the district but has since received encouragement to mount a new campaign from others in the party.
Stevens Point state Rep. Katrina Shankland, who lost to Cooke in last year's heated Democratic primary, said she will not run again this cycle.
Regardless, Cooke is seen as a front-runner in the race.
'When someone comes off of a strong race and is able to raise a lot of money and get a lot of endorsements, they clearly are in the lead position to run,' said Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, one of Van Orden's loudest detractors who initially supported Shankland last cycle.
'I understand people want to have their strongest candidate forward,' Pocan said. 'I think Becca proved to be a strong candidate.'
Cooke raised more than $6.3 million last cycle to Van Orden's $7.6 million, according to Federal Election Commission reports, and she gained the support of members of Congress like the congressional moderate Blue Dog Coalition. A number of top Democrats in both Wisconsin and Washington, including those in leadership positions, encouraged her to consider another run following her loss.
This week, Cooke said Democratic unity will be 'critically important' in 2026, noting she spent millions in last year's bitter Democratic primary that saw Cooke and Shankland trade public jabs.
She slammed Van Orden for not scheduling in-person town halls to hear from constituents and said getting into the race early 'allows us to check him and to check this administration.'
'It takes time to build a movement,' Cooke said. 'And it's something that we've been doing for some time.'
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Democrat Rebecca Cooke launches bid to unseat Derrick Van Orden
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It is an issue of fairness — it's deeply unfair,' Newsom said, a comment that was panned by many of his longtime LGBTQ+ supporters and progressive allies. Newsom for months has also muted his tone on immigration issues, avoiding using the word 'sanctuary' to describe a state law that limits police cooperation with federal immigration authorities even as he defends the legality of the policy. The governor is proposing steep cuts to a free health care program for undocumented immigrants, which comes as California faces a $12 billion budget deficit. In recent days, however, he joined a chorus of California Democrats criticizing Trump administration immigration efforts in his state. Moore, who recently trekked to South Carolina, vetoed legislation that would launch a study of reparations for the descendants of slaves from the Democratic-controlled legislature. Moore urged Democrats not get bogged down by bureaucratic malaise and pointed to the Republican Party as the reason why. 'Donald Trump doesn't need a study to dismantle democracy. Donald Trump doesn't need a study to use the Constitution like it's a suggestion box,' he told a packed dinner of party power players. 'Donald Trump doesn't need a white paper to start arbitrary trade wars that will raise the cost of virtually everything in our lives,' Moore said. There are some notable exceptions to the party's border pivot to the center. Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota haven't shied away from social issues. Beshear, who has vetoed several anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including during his own reelection year, attacked Newsom for inviting conservative provocateurs Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk onto his podcast. He also drew a distinction with Newsom on transgender athletes playing in youth sports, arguing that 'our different leagues have more than the ability to make' sports 'fair,' he told reporters in March. 'Surely, we can see some humanity and some different perspectives in this overall debate's that going on right now,' Beshear added. The Kentucky governor said his stance is rooted in faith — 'all children are children of God,' he often says. Walz called it 'a mistake' to abandon transgender people. 'We need to tell people your cost of eggs, your health care being denied, your homeowner's insurance, your lack of getting warning on tornadoes coming has nothing to do with someone's gender,' he told The Independent last month. Pritzker, too, recently said that it's 'vile and inhumane to go after the smallest minority and attack them.' This spring, Pritzker declared March 31 as Illinois' Transgender Day of Visibility. 'Walz, [Sen. Chris] Murphy, Pritzker, Beshear — they're not going around talking about it all the time, but they're also not running away from their values,' said one adviser to a potential 2028 candidate granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. 'They're in the both-and lane.' The party's reckoning with social issues is far from over. In 2021, then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro vocally opposed a GOP bill that aimed to ban trans athletes from participating in women's school sports, calling it 'cruel' and 'designed to discriminate against transgender youth who just want to play sports like their peers.' This year, as the state's Republican-controlled Senate has passed a similar bill with the support of a handful of Democrats, Shapiro has remained mum on the legislation. It's not likely to come up for a vote in the state's Democratic-held House, so he may be able to punt — at least a while. As Emmanuel sees it, his party has a long way to go to over-correct for what he paints as the excesses of the last few years. 'The core crux over the years of President [Joe] Biden's tenure is the party on a whole set of cultural issues looked like they were off on a set of tangential issues,' Emmanuel said. Dasha Burns, Dustin Gardner, Holly Otterbein, and Brakkton Booker contributed to this report.
