Twenty-seven days before Election Day, Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District looks like the entire 2026 midterm campaign compressed into one western Wisconsin race. Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden is back against Democrat Rebecca Cooke after beating her by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2024. The rematch is now rated a toss-up, the money is pouring in, and both sides are trying to reduce complicated questions to something that fits comfortably on a bumper sticker.
From Click on Detroit:
It’s a risky gambit given fears among Republicans that Trump’s sagging polling numbers, the unpopular Iran war and economic concerns will drag them down. But it reflects a calculation by Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL who embodies the president's confrontational politics, that motivating the conservative base is still the best plan as long as Trump remains the party’s undisputed leader.
“There’s something that’s sorely lacking in this political business and it’s loyalty," Van Orden told The Associated Press before flying to Dallas to appear at Trump's midterm convention this week. "I think we’d be a lot better off if we were more loyal to our fellow Americans to begin with.”
Cooke’s presentation is carefully constructed. She’s the dairy-farm daughter, waitress, small-business owner, and working-class populist promising lower costs, stronger farms, less corruption, and a restored American dream. Her platform also calls for a $15 federal minimum wage, the PRO Act, expanded Medicare eligibility, green infrastructure, continued federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and ending the Hyde Amendment.
Cooke isn’t a DSA-endorsed candidate, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed her, campaigned with her, and Cooke said she would support democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani if she lived in New York City. Her political trick is convincing western Wisconsin voters to see Eau Claire, farms, restaurants, and working-class frustration before they see Sanders, Mamdani, or the increasingly socialist pressure building inside the Democratic coalition.
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Van Orden is making almost the opposite bet. He’s sticking close to President Donald Trump while other vulnerable Republicans have created distance from the White House. His campaign stresses border security, tax cuts, law enforcement, veterans, agriculture, rural healthcare, and local control over data centers, but his rhetoric is hardly delicate. “No Comment Cooke,” socialist attacks, and accusations that Cooke is a manufactured Washington candidate have become regular campaign ammunition.
Both campaigns understand that anger sells. Cooke attacks Van Orden over healthcare, tariffs, Trump, and rural economics. Van Orden attacks Cooke’s progressive allies and political consulting history. They spent months accusing each other of avoiding a debate before finally agreeing to an October 20 forum in Eau Claire. Somewhere beneath the insults, Wisconsin voters may actually hear them discuss affordability, taxes, healthcare, energy, and federal spending.
Van Orden also handed Cooke an unnecessary weapon by posting AI-manipulated videos portraying her saying things she never said. Her lawyers sent him a cease-and-desist letter. Conservatives shouldn’t need artificial clips when Cooke’s real platform, real endorsements, and real statements already provide plenty of ammo.
From Wisconsin Politics:
It’s the first time the two candidates will meet in a debate or forum after the two did not debate ahead of the 2024 election that Van Orden won by less than 4 percentage points.
The candidate forum, hosted by the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce, will take place Oct. 20 at 11 a.m. at the Chippewa Valley Technical College and be moderated by political analyst John Frank and WEAU-TV reporter/anchor Kim Leadholm.
Forum questions will focus on business priorities and other issues impacting the 3rd CD. The forum is only open to chamber investors but will be livestreamed by WEAU.
The forum is the first time two general election candidates in the 3rd CD have met since Van Orden faced then-U.S. Rep. Ron Kind in 2020.
Politics has enough fiction without candidates manufacturing more of it.
Then there’s the money.
Through July 22, Cooke had raised about $8.6 million and spent about $6.8 million. Van Orden had raised roughly $7.5 million, while spending about $3.4 million, leaving him with a considerably larger cash reserve. Outside organizations continue adding money on both sides, turning western Wisconsin television screens, mailboxes, phones, and computer screens into rented battlefield space.
Nationally, Republicans have spent roughly half a billion dollars in competitive races since Labor Day without producing much movement in the polls. Democrats now hold roughly a nine-point advantage in the generic congressional ballot average, while current House ratings list 22 races as toss-ups. Republicans hold 16 of those seats.
If you’re a Democrat treating November as a routine midterm route, you’re ignoring an increasingly uncomfortable scoreboard.
Meanwhile, the DSA isn’t hiding what it wants. Its national endorsement standards require candidates to view themselves as “socialist organizers first, and legislators second,” publicly identify as socialists, support DSA priorities, and consider the movement’s path toward a socialist society.
The political danger for Democrats is that voters may eventually stop separating the carefully packaged swing-district candidate from the ideological movement steadily pulling her party leftward.
Republicans should relentlessly illustrate that contrast. Cooke campaigns as a mainstream Wisconsin Democrat, but a vote for her also strengthens a national Democratic coalition increasingly dependent on progressive money, activists, and priorities. Her campaign would rather keep those two pictures separate.
Van Orden may be rough around the edges, but voters know where he stands: lower taxes, stronger borders, domestic energy, support for farmers, law enforcement, and the Trump agenda.
Republicans have to keep them side by side.