In Battleground 3rd District, Democratic Hopefuls Agree On GOP Failures, Not Tactics

U.S. Capitol. Photo by Martin Falbisoner, (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Two Democrats vying for a shot at defeating Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden courted party activists Thursday during a Democratic Party forum in Platteville.

The 3rd Congressional District race is considered a toss-up and seen as key to Democrats’ hopes of ending the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and slowing President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Democrats Rebecca Cooke and Emily Berge agreed on a lot during the hour-and-a-half long forum at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, located near the southern edge of the 3rd District. They agreed that policies from President Trump and Republicans who control the House and U.S. Senate have hurt Wisconsinites. Berge and Cooke agreed to a lesser extent on how to respond.

There’s around two months to go until voters in the 3rd District will decide who will face Van Orden, but national Democrats already made their choice in February. That’s when the House Democrats’ campaign arm added Cooke to its “Red to Blue” program aimed at flipping Republican-held districts, which came with staff, training and fundraising support.

Rebecca Cooke is a candidate for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. Photo courtesy of Cooke campaign

It’s Cooke’s third attempt at unseating Van Orden, who defeated her by less than 3 percentage points in 2024. In 2022, she lost to fellow Democrat Brad Pfaff, who is now a state senator.

During the forum, Cooke discussed her upbringing on an Eau Claire County dairy farm, starting a small business and launching a nonprofit. She’s also worked as a Democratic fundraising consultant and has had no trouble raising money over the past year. All told, her campaign has reported bringing in nearly $6.5 million.

Former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge is vying against fellow Democrat Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District primary race. The winner will take on Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden, who has represented the district since 2022. Photo courtesy of Berge campaign

Berge is a first time candidate for Congress, after serving eight years on the Eau Claire City Council, including five years as council president. In 2020, she lost a Wisconsin Assembly race to Republican Jesse James by around 20 percentage points. Berge has been vastly behind Cooke in fundraising, bringing in a total of around $566,000 during her congressional campaign.

When campaign finance reform was brought up during the forum, Cooke said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United, which struck down laws restricting political spending by corporations and unions, must be reversed. Berge followed up by taking a less-than-veiled swipe at Cooke’s financial support from national Democrats and political action committees.

“You can’t just continue to prop up the candidates with the most money and then funnel more millions to them,” said Berge. “That’s not how you get regular people running for office. They want regular people to drop out of the race if you don’t have the millions, and I feel that pressure every day.”

Different approaches to healthcare, impeachment

When it came to how they’d respond to Trump, Republicans and the policies they’ve passed since the start of 2025, Berge and Cooke diverged somewhat. When asked about rising healthcare costs squeezing residents in the 3rd District, Berge vowed to push for creating a public health insurance option.

“I believe that everyone deserves access to healthcare and mental healthcare, and we can only do that through Medicare for all,” said Berge.

Cooke said there are “things, aspirationally, I’d love to pen my name to” like a public healthcare option, but Democrats in the House aren’t likely to lead with that type of legislation if they win a majority. She said it’s more likely that Democrats will first introduce legislation to extend tax credits aimed at keeping Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums from spiking.

“I think that that’s more important right now, is to address those issues first and foremost, and things that we can do, actually very quickly, to be able to move the ball forward,” said Cooke.

While Berge and Cooke accused Trump of corruption several times during the discussion they differed on how they planned on holding him accountable. Berge said she would vote to impeach Trump if Democrats won the House to “bring him to justice.” When Cooke was asked if she would support impeaching the president, she said she would like to have more information.

“The devil is in the details on what that looks like, but I think there’s a lot of different ways in which we can find accountability,” said Cooke.

The 3rd Congressional District race is considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. National Republicans have been spending heavily on Van Orden’s reelection bid, and President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have all made stops in the district to support his campaign.

Democrats vying for 3rd Congressional District face off in candidate forum was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.