Democrat Rebecca Cooke wins 3rd District primary

Eau Claire business owner Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic primary for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District Tuesday, setting up a general election contest with Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Prairie du Chien.

The Associated Press called the race at 10:45 p.m. According to unofficial results, Cooke led the Democratic field with 49 percent of the vote, followed by 42 percent for Stevens Point state Rep. Katrina Shankland and about 9 percent for information technology professional Eric Wilson of Eau Claire.

The results showed Shankland overwhelmingly won her home Portage County and neighboring Wood County, but Cooke won everywhere else in the sprawling district.

Speaking to WPR from her election night party in Eau Claire, Cooke said her campaign worked to strengthen relationships built during her previous run for the district in the 2022 primary.

Cooke said she’ll prioritize listening to voters across the district’s 19 counties in the general election. She also expressed hopes of reaching voters from outside her party.

“When I go to D.C., I’m not just representing Democrats, but I’m representing everybody in the 3rd (Congressional District): Republicans, moderates, independents,” Cooke said. “So (I’m) really working to build those folks into the fold as well.”

Shankland declined an interview request Tuesday night. Wilson said the outcome of the primary race was “expected based on the resources that we all had access to.” He congratulated Cooke on winning, adding that he was “excited to help her defeat Derrick (Van Orden) come November.”

In the last weeks of the race, attacks between Cooke and Shankland grew increasingly negative. Shankland accused Cooke of using “dark money” to go negative in the race after Cooke accused Shankland of voting with Republicans to block Medicaid expansion.

Cooke said it was Shankland who went negative first when she ran an ad pointing out Cooke’s lack of experience holding political office. Shankland also pointed out Cooke’s experience as a fundraising consultant for national Democratic campaigns.

The attacks echo those made by national Republican groups, which claim that Cooke’s appeals to voters as a political outsider and member of the working class are misleading.

“In what became the messiest Wisconsin Democrat primary in years, professional political fundraiser Rebecca Cooke has been forced to show all her cards and reveal how out of touch she is with Wisconsinites,” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella in a written statement Tuesday night.

Cooke said the attacks are a sign Republicans see her “as a strong opponent,” adding that she is looking forward to taking on Van Orden in November.

Cooke was the first Democrat to enter the race in the 3rd Congressional District. She launched her campaign in July 2023, less than a year after losing the 2022 primary to Democratic state Sen. Brad Pfaff of Onalaska.

She significantly outraised her opponents in the race, with her campaign bringing in more than $2 million as of July 24. By comparison, Shankland’s campaign raised over $867,000.

Cooke’s early support from national Democratic groups is one difference between this year’s race and the last election in 2022, when Pfaff came up just short to Van Orden.

Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District was held for years by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind of La Crosse. It’s one of just two U.S. House districts in Wisconsin that are considered competitive under the state’s congressional map.