Democrat Rebecca Cooke to again challenge US Rep. Derrick Van Orden

Months after losing a close election for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, Democrat Rebecca Cooke says she’ll once again challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden for the seat.

Cooke announced her candidacy Tuesday morning at a press conference in Chippewa County.

That would put her in the running for a 2026 election to represent Wisconsin’s most politically competitive congressional district.

Last year, Cooke emerged from a three-way Democratic primary to challenge Van Orden for the seat, which he’s held since 2023. The district had previously been held by former U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, a Democrat, for 26 years.

Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL from Prairie du Chien, went on to defeat Cooke in November by just under 3 percentage points, or just over 11,000 votes.

“I’m running for Congress because Wisconsin families deserve a fair shot and a seat at the table,” Cooke said in a press release announcing her candidacy. “It’s clear we need more working-class voices in Congress who have lived failed policy and will actually fight like hell to rebuild the middle class.”

She argued that she outperformed other Democrats in November, and she called Van Orden “vulnerable.”

“I will take on the monopolies that have robbed our families of their farming heritage and decimated our rural economies. I’m focused on results and don’t care who gets the credit, as long as things get done,” Cooke’s statement read.

Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District comprises parts of 19 counties in western and central Wisconsin, including the cities of Eau Claire, La Crosse and Stevens Point.

Kind represented the district from 1997 until January 2023. In the 2022 election to fill his seat, Van Orden defeated state Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska, in what became a nationally scrutinized election.

Cooke also threw her hat in the ring for that race but lost to Pfaff in the primary.

In a written statement, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect Republicans to Congress, called Cooke a “certified loser.”

“Voters are well aware that she is nothing more than a sleazy political activist who remains out-of-touch with Western Wisconsin,” said NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon.

Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District is one of the top priorities for Democrats nationally as they try to retake the U.S. House in 2026. The House Majority PAC, a political action committee focused on electing Democrats to Congress, recently announced a $50 million campaign to flip at least 14 competitive seats next fall, including Van Orden’s.