Rebecca Cooke wins heated Democratic primary to take on Rep. Derrick Van Orden

Eau Claire non-profit owner Rebecca Cooke won the heated three-way Democratic primary for a western Wisconsin battleground House seat Tuesday night, setting up a November fight with freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

Cooke beat Stevens Point state Rep. Katrina Shankland by nearly 9 points with more than 95% of the vote counted and handily defeated Eric Wilson, the other Democrat in the race, to secure the party’s nomination. The Associated Press called the race late Tuesday.

The contest for the 3rd Congressional District, which Van Orden flipped red in 2022, could be Wisconsin’s tightest this year, and national Democrats have signaled they plan to zero-in on it as they look to take control of the House.

"We saw in the results that our rural communities are yearning for leadership focused on solutions," Cooke said after her victory. "Extreme politicians like Derrick Van Orden are too focused on partisan games, and they’re a threat to our freedoms, democracy, and pocketbooks."

Cooke’s primary victory culminates nearly three years of campaigning for the seat. She ran for the district last cycle but came in second in the Democratic primary, falling to Onalaska state Sen. Brad Pfaff by just under 8 points. Pfaff lost to Van Orden that year by about 4 points.

Tuesday’s result also marked the end of a particularly bitter primary race. While the Democrats vying to challenge Van Orden in 2022 avoided attacking one another and reserved their harsh words for their Republican opponent, Cooke and Shankland exchanged barbs in the final weeks of this year’s primary.

Both women accused each other of turning the race negative as Shankland said Cooke was distorting Shankland’s legislative record and signaling outside groups to attack Shankland, and Cooke pointed to Shankland’s ads noting Cooke has never held public office.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Madison Democrat who has long voiced support for not getting involved in contested Democratic primaries, endorsed Shankland and had repeatedly publicly railed against Cooke for her attacks on Shankland.

The infighting has led some Democrats to question whether the negativity could damage party unity heading into the general election. But all three Democrats had pledged to support the winner of the primary, noting their real opponent was Van Orden.

Cooke Wednesday morning said she applauded Shankland and Wilson for their campaigns and was "grateful for their support as we come together, ready to defeat Derrick Van Orden this fall."

Still, Republicans on Tuesday pointed to the race’s negative turn as a sign of trouble for Democrats in the months ahead.

The National Republican Congressional Committee called the race “the messiest Wisconsin Democrat primary in years.”

The contest also split Democrats in Washington — serving as a test between a self-described political outsider and a longtime lawmaker. Cooke, a former professional fundraiser, received endorsements from the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats in Congress, and received support from the centrist group Welcome PAC. Shankland gained the endorsements of both Wisconsin’s House Democrats — Pocan and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore.

National Democrats, meanwhile, have signaled they could put a bigger focus on Wisconsin’s rural 3rd Congressional District this year after state Democrats last year accused their national counterparts of abandoning Pfaff in his close loss to Van Orden.

House Majority PAC, Democrats’ largest outside group for congressional campaigns, last week reserved just under $4 million in television ads in media markets around the district for October, though the group ended up canceling similar reservations last cycle.

The Cook Political Report, an election handicapper, rated the race as “lean Republican” ahead of the primary.

Cooke, 36, had the fundraising edge over her Democratic opponents throughout the primary.

She reported raising more than $2 million as of the end of July and had about $590,000 in cash on hand heading into the primary, according to Federal Election Commission filings. By comparison, Pfaff raised about $722,000 and amassed $1.7 million in cash on hand ahead of his primary victory in 2022.

Van Orden, a 54-year-old retired Navy SEAL, will likely get the support of national Republicans as the GOP seeks this year to hold onto their slim majority in the House. His latest campaign finance report showed he raised nearly $4.9 million so far this cycle. He had $2.4 million in cash on hand at the end of last month.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler Tuesday night said the party was "excited to unite" around Cooke as he called Van Orden "an embarrassment to Western Wisconsin" and a "one-man clown show, making headlines for petty temper tantrums while his actual responsibilities... have fallen by the wayside."

"It’s time for a pro-choice Congresswoman who grew up on a dairy farm and fights for working people to replace an anti-freedom disgrace," Wikler said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rebecca Cooke wins heated Democratic primary to take on Van Orden