# Rebecca Cooke 36-year-old nonprofit founder, former waitress, and Eau Claire native running her **third consecutive campaign** (2022 primary, 2024 nominee, 2026) for [[WI-03-2026]] against freshman Republican [[Derrick Van Orden]]. Q1 2026: **$2.4M raised, $4.4M+ cash on hand** — outraised the incumbent by roughly $1.1M and reported more COH, an inversion of the usual R cash advantage in WI House races. **DCCC Red to Blue** designee (February 2026). Internal polling has her at 65% in the three-way Democratic primary, a 43-point lead over her nearest competitor. ## 2026 cycle - **Primary date**: 2026-08-11 (both parties) - **Rating**: Cook shifted WI-03 **Lean R → Toss Up** in December 2025, explicitly citing Cooke's fundraising and the April 2025 Wisconsin state Supreme Court Democratic win as grassroots signals. - **Underlying structure**: Van Orden won 2024 by 2.8 points while Trump carried WI-03 by 7+; Van Orden ran ~4 points behind Trump, the only WI R congressman to run behind him. Cooke's pitch is essentially that Van Orden is a personality problem Democrats can beat even at R+3 PVI. - **Fundraising**: $6.5M raised cycle-to-date. March 2026 single largest contribution: **$633K from House Victory Project**. - **Endorsements**: Pete Buttigieg, Sens. [[Tammy Baldwin]] and [[Bernie Sanders]], Sen. [[Elissa Slotkin]], 16 [[Members of Congress Hub]], State Sen. [[Brad Pfaff]] (2022 WI-03 nominee), labor unions ## Primary field - **Cooke** — front-runner, 65% in internal polling - **Emily Berge** — Eau Claire City Council President; Q1: ~$177K - **Rodney Rave** — union operating engineer, former Ho-Chunk Nation legislator; limited fundraising 2022 WI-03 nominee [[Brad Pfaff]] is **not running** — remains in WI State Senate (32nd) and has endorsed Cooke. ## Background - Eau Claire native; small-town western Wisconsin roots - Former waitress — a biographical detail that anchors her working-class framing - Founded a nonprofit; small-business / community-economic-development focus - 2022 run: lost Democratic primary - 2024 general: nominated, lost to Van Orden **51.4%–48.6%** (~11,000 votes) - 2026 run: announced as rematch; learning-curve gains (name ID, donor base, party relationships) compounded across three cycles ## Ideological positioning - Mainstream Wisconsin Democrat; economic-populist lane - Opposition to [[Big Beautiful Bill]] (Medicaid/SNAP impact in rural western WI) is a major general-election attack axis - Third-run archetype: contrast with [[Marc Molinaro]]'s decision to retreat to state-level office after two NY-19 losses ## Related - [[WI-03-2026]] — 2026 race file - [[Derrick Van Orden]] — incumbent opponent - [[Brad Pfaff]] — 2022 nominee, Cooke endorser (stub TBD) - [[Big Beautiful Bill]] — core issue terrain - [[Affordability]] — rural-district affordability messaging ## Sources - [Ballotpedia — Rebecca Cooke](https://ballotpedia.org/Rebecca_Cooke) - [NOTUS — Cooke $2.4M Q1 haul](https://www.notus.org/money/rebecca-cooke-derrick-van-orden-fundraising-2026) - [WisPolitics — Cooke outraises Van Orden by $1.1M](https://www.wispolitics.com/2026/dc-wrap-cooke-outraises-van-orden-by-nearly-1-1-million-in-first-quarter/) - [Urban Milwaukee — Cooke cash edge](https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2026/04/17/cooke-builds-cash-edge-on-van-orden-as-democrats-target-gop-house-majority/) - [The Badger Project — Cooke top donors](https://thebadgerproject.org/2026/03/18/max-donors-so-far-to-rebecca-cooke-dem-challenger-in-western-wisconsin/)