Rebecca Cooke announces she will run again for 3rd congressional seat in Wisconsin

March 11, 2013

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – Small business person and waitress Rebecca Cooke of Eau Claire formally announced her candidacy for Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district Tuesday morning on a farm in Chippewa County. This will be Cooke’s third run at the seat, she lost to Derrick Van Orden by less than 3% last November, but outperformed the vote totals of Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Cooke also ran in the 3rd CD primary in 2022 and came in second to fellow Democrat Brad Pfaff but ahead of Deb McGrath.

Lately, Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden has faced an increased backlash from voters who are reacting to the Trump agenda of trade tariffs, mass firings and cuts to federal programs that threaten basic services like farm programs, school funding, Medicaid and Medicare and veterans programs. Van Orden has also faced criticism for his refusal to host public listening sessions to hear voter concern about those issues, and for calling constituents “agitators” and “communists”.

In her announcement Cooke criticized Van Orden for backing the Trump agenda and specifically what that means for farmers.

“Derrick Van Orden would rather play into political football with the farm bill than to get it passed,” said Cooke.

The farm bill is an omnibus, multiyear law that governs an array of agricultural and food programs. It provides an opportunity for policymakers to address a broad range of agricultural and food issues about every five years. An initial one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill had covered 2024. The 2018 farm bill originally expired on September 30, 2023, and with the 2023 crop year. On December 21, 2024, Congress enacted a one-year extension of the current farm bill to cover fiscal year 2025 and the 2025 crop year.

Cooke also criticized Van Orden’s support of the Trump administrations cuts to USAID because many of those aid programs helped boost farm prices because they depended on U.S. farm commodities to supply food assistance programs. Cooke said cuts to USDA conversation programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Program or SNAP could also impact farmers if that program is not longer buying commodities from farmers.

Cooke said her campaign came close to winning enough votes last November and is convinced she can win over enough votes this time to win.

“Last November, we won the trust and support from an unprecedented amount of democratic, independent and Republican voters,” said Cooke. “And we nearly sent a farm kid from Western Wisconsin, from here in Chippewa County, to Congress. We built a movement, but we ran out of time, and now, with your help, we’re going to win in 2026.”

Cooke also pitched herself as a moderate that fits the underlying values of the district. “

“Look, we’re seeing a lot of chaos and dysfunction in Congress,” said Cooke. “I’m a really a moderate, middle of the road Democrat. I think we need more people in DC that aren’t so far left or so far right, but somewhere in the middle, which is where most people in Chippewa County I know are. you know, and that’s not like the far right faction that we’re seeing in Congress. This is like the worst in some of the policies that we’re seeing coming out of this administration. And so, I think we need just more pragmatic working class voices, people like us, people like us that aren’t, you know, part of the elite structure that we’re seeing in a lot of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, frankly, who are sending their regular folks to be out there advocating for our needs.

It is unclear if there will other Democrats who jump into the race like last time when a three way Democratic primary force Democrats to expend resources running against each other prior to the general election. UpNorthNews is reporting Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge confirmed with them that she is also seriously considering getting into the race, but she wants to “remain focused on making sure Susan Crawford is elected April 1” to an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court before making any final decisions or formal announcements.