What Flipped These Two Wisconsin House Seats?

U.S. Sens-elect Mitchell Berman and Rebecca Cooke. Berman photo by Angela Major/WPR, Cooke photo by Hope Kirwan/WPR

Two new freshman Democratic lawmakers will be representing Wisconsin next year, after a wave of victories for their party this midterm election.

Across America, Democrats unseated Republican incumbents in a string of victories. Wisconsin saw several Republicans rebuffed as well.

In the state’s 1st Congressional District, which stretches from Kenosha to Janesville, Mitchell Berman, an emergency room nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs, defeated incumbent Republican Bryan Steil with 52 percent of the vote.

Berman told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that his inspiration for running came from witnessing staffing cuts and hiring freezes from the Trump Administration, and how that impacted the VA’s ability to offer care.

“That’s when I realized it was going to take somebody from the ground floor standing up and fighting for change if we wanted to see it,” he said. “That’s how we ended up here.”

Berman’s victory marks the first time a Democrat will represent the 1st District in more than 30 years.

Democrat Rebecca Cooke beat Republican incumbent Derrick Van Orden in a rematch for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers much of western Wisconsin, from Eau Claire to Prairie du Chien. Cooke lost the 2024 race against Van Orden, but this year won the election by a nearly 22,000-vote margin.

Cooke said putting in the work of knocking on doors and visiting traditionally red-leaning parts of the district like Crawford County helped her  win this time.

“But it’s also talking to people about the issues that are keeping them up at night and running on a platform that works to solve some of those biggest concerns that people have across the district,” she said. “I think people were really frustrated with this (Trump) administration and the votes that Derrick Van Orden took, and are looking for a change, for something different. I hope to offer that now, here in this next Congress.”

An Associated Press voter poll found that the top issues for voters nationally this cycle included the economy, the state of democracy, immigration policy and healthcare.

The most recent Marquette University Law School Poll, conducted mid-October, found Wisconsin voters felt similarly about what bothered them going into the election, with 48 percent saying their biggest concerns were inflation and the high cost of living.

Moderate Democrat Ron Kind held the 3rd district for decades before voters chose Van Orden. Cooke said her victory proves that the 3rd is and always has been a purple district, where voters expect someone who will work with anyone to get things done that’ll benefit constituents.

Cooke said she expects to have to work with the Trump Administration to get bills past the president’s veto pen and signed into law. She said her first priority is to tackle the high costs of healthcare. She said lawmakers could achieve this by quickly passing an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credit premiums for another three years.

The current Republican-led Congress did not extend the enhanced COVID-19-era subsidies and they expired at the end of 2025.

“People in my district have seen their premiums go up from $400 to $1,800 a month,” Cooke said. “I myself have actually cancelled my health insurance. I don’t have healthcare going into this Congress. And there are so many people facing that same struggle.”

Berman called passing the extension a top priority as well, and “low-hanging fruit” when it comes to giving people opportunities for affordable health coverage.

Berman brings firsthand experience with the healthcare system — and its challenges — as an emergency room nurse. He said he and other incoming lawmakers with similar backgrounds have a better understanding of what is broken.

“In the emergency room, I’ve had patients confide in me that they can’t afford the prescriptions we’re sending them home with,” he told WPR. “I’ve seen my patients sign out of the hospital against medical advice because they knew if they missed a day of work that they wouldn’t be able to put food on their table or pay their rent.”

“I think having that acute awareness of what’s happening — not only in the healthcare area as it relates to disease and illness, but also the social aspects that we see in our emergency rooms — gives us a perspective that I think most people don’t have,” Berman said.

“Seeing that the number one cause of bankruptcy in our country is medical debt, seeing the cuts that were implemented by this administration to Medicaid and the loss of the ACA subsidies and understanding the ramifications for our patients, I think that’s why so many of us have stood up to take on policy changes in Washington to help improve things for our patients.”

The new Congress will be sworn in Jan. 3.

Republican Michael Alfonso will also be a freshman lawmaker heading to Capitol Hill next session to represent Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district. His team declined an interview with WPR.

2 new Wisconsin Democrats will join the House next year, replacing Republicans was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.