Rebecca Cooke Campaigns with Sen. Elissa Slotkin in Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis (WCFW) – Rebecca Cooke was joined by Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin for a campaign event in Eau Claire Monday morning.

The two spoke with local residents at the Oxbow Hotel in Eau Claire with less than a year to go until the Democratic primary election for the Third Congressional District. Cooke won the primary in the 2024 election, but fell short against incumbent Congressman Derrick Van Orden in November. She launched her third bid for the seat in March.

Cooke and Senator Slotkin’s comments focused on the growing cost of living crisis. Senator Slotkin referred to the shrinking middle class as the biggest existential threat to the country and called on her Democratic colleagues to tackle that issue more aggressively.

“For me, going on offense is having our own ideas about what we’re going to do to help people with the cost of living, and with getting in and staying in the middle class,” she said. “I can speak for Michigan, that is the existential issue. That people want to know that just like their dads and grandads, they can work one job, have good benefits, they do well and their kids do better. It’s not rocket science.”

They also highlighted the effects that cuts in the new federal budget bill will have on rural healthcare. Access to healthcare became one of the largest concerns in the Chippewa Valley following the HSHS closures last year. The remaining hospitals are stretched thin and residents are traveling further for quality care.

“I’ll say healthcare remains very much at the top of my platform,” said Cooke. “I know lots of folks in this room have felt the impacts of our two major hospitals closing throughout the last cycle and we’re still reeling from those repercussions. And that’s before the passage of the reconciliation bill.”