Derrick Van Orden Wins 3rd Congressional District Contest

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., has defeated Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke in the race to represent Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.

By 11:10 a.m. Wednesday and with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Van Orden had 211,696 votes, or 51.4 percent, to Cooke’s 200,556 votes, or 48.6 percent.

The 3rd Congressional District includes southwestern Wisconsin, including the cities of Eau Claire and La Crosse.

Van Orden, from Prairie du Chien, is a retired U.S. Navy Seal and former cafe owner. Based on his military service, he appeared in three movies and wrote a book. He has a wife, Sara Jane, four children and 11 grandchildren. 

He originally ran for the 3rd Congressional District seat in 2020, but lost to Democratic incumbent Ron Kind. In 2022, Kind decided not to run for reelection and Van Orden ran again and defeated the Democratic nominee, state Sen. Brad Pfaff. While in Congress, Van Orden has served on the U.S. House’s Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Cooke, originally from Eau Claire, is a small business owner who founded a retail business and a nonprofit to support western Wisconsin entrepreneurs get started. She was later appointed to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and co-chair of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation committee. 

Following the election, Cooke posted a social media video thanking her team, volunteers and supporters for their hard work. “There’s a lot of things that I want to say, and a lot of things will be left unsaid,” said Cooke. “But I want to say thank you. I am very, very, very grateful for the tremendous support that we’ve seen from this coalition that we’ve built of teachers, of farmers, of small business owners, of hospitality workers and I’m incredibly proud of the campaign that we ran and the kind of message that we delivered to working class voices around this district and around this country.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated.