Cooke Shares Campaign Focus in Chippewa Falls Announcement

Rebecca Cooke officially announced her candidacy for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District again at a Chippewa Falls farm on Tuesday.

It’s the third time Cooke is running for the office. In 2022 she lost the Democratic primary to State Senator Brad Pfaff. In 2024, she won the Democratic primary but lost to Congressman Derrick Van Orden by 11,256 votes in the general election. While she fell short in November, she did out-perform former Vice President Kamala Harris and Senator Tammy Baldwin in the district.

On Tuesday morning, Cooke officially announced her candidacy at Triple T Farm in Chippewa Falls. She also shared her updated strategy for her expected rematch with Congressman Van Orden.

“I think we’ll certainly be a lot more aggressive,” said Cooke. “I think that we’ve got to hold this administration’s worst instincts accountable and Derrick Van Orden has proven that he’s really lockstep with what this administration is attempting to do. And that’s going to be hurting our veterans, that’s going to be hurting our seniors, the types of cuts that they’re proposing.”

Town halls have become a hot topic in recent weeks, particularly in the Third Congressional District. Nearly two weeks ago, a member of Congressman Van Orden’s staff canceled a meeting with Chippewa Valley Indivisible after learning over 100 people had signed up to attend. Congressman Van Orden called the organization a “George Soros funded group that is crashing meetings around the country” in a tweet hours later.

Speaking on the topic of town halls, Cooke said “As a public servant, you’re elected to be by the people and for the people, and so you need to be accountable to the people. So I intend to host town halls pretty frequently throughout the campaign and create opportunities for people on both sides of the aisle to be able to interact with me and have a dialogue on issues that they care about the most.”

Asked about Congressman Van Orden’s perceived lack of availability to constituents, she said “I just think he’s a coward and it shows weakness in his ability to stand behind the policies that he supports.”

In a press release on Tuesday morning, Cooke highlighted her background in agriculture, owning a small business, and nonprofit leadership. Wisconsin’s third congressional district is one of the most competitive in the country. Cooke is the first to officially announce her candidacy for 2026.