Emily Berge officially announced her campaign for the third congressional district seat in the 2026 election this week.

The Eau Claire City Council President officially joined the race on April 11th and announced the campaign on Tuesday. She will run against Rebecca Cooke, who announced her intent to run again in early March. Cooke won the Democratic primary last summer, but fell short to incumbent Congressman Derrick Van Orden in the November election.

Berge highlighted her experience in the healthcare industry and in her role as City Council President in her official announcement. “Things are crazy at the national level as we all are hearing and seeing,” she said on her decision to run for the seat. “I think a lot of people are feeling that current representative Derrick Van Orden isn’t listening to the people of the third. He’s not showing up, he’s all in with the Trump agenda and Elon Musk agenda, and people are ready for something different.”

Congressman Van Orden has received criticism over his decision to hold virtual town halls with constituents rather than in-person town halls. A common theme of speakers at Democrat-organized town halls has been a proposed spending bill that could force cuts to programs like Medicaid and Social Security.

On that topic, Berge said “They just want to be heard. So I think of all the times to meet with people, it’s when they’re upset and concerned and scared. So I guess it’s disappointing that he’s not willing to meet face to face with people who have questions about the bigger bill, the potential cuts to all these programs that people depend on.”

Before seeing Congressman Van Orden in a general election however, Berge will first face off against Cooke in the Democratic primary. Asked what separates her from Cooke, Berge leaned on her experience as an elected official.

“I have been in the arena fighting on these issues at the local level since 2018,” she said. I was elected to City Council then, elected to City Council President in 2023, so I’ve already been working with these issues. Housing, healthcare, water, it’s all at the local level. I’ve been working with residents and policy makers at the state and federal level on these issues so I feel like I have that experience that she is lacking.”

Berge and Cooke are the only two candidates to officially file to run in the race at this time.

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