Rebecca Cooke wins Democratic nomination in Wisconsin 3rd District, will challenge Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden

Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin’s 3^rd Congressional District on Tuesday night, setting up a contest with Jan. 6 participant Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R) in November.

Cooke overcame a three-person primary election when she secured around 49% of the vote (as of 11:30 p.m. CST). The race was called by AP News at 10:45 p.m. CST.

The tension between Shankland and Cooke defined the Democratic primary. The two began trading harsh words in the weeks leading up to the election, with Cooke running an ad claiming that Shankland is “working for Republicans, not you.” Shankland has been a progressive member of Wisconsin’s House of Representatives since 2013, while Cooke is a nonprofit leader who has framed herself as a moderate and political outsider. And Eau Claire County Democratic Party chairman Wilson positioned himself as the most progressive candidate.

Van Orden is a former Navy SEAL who was elected to Congress in 2022 after receiving support from former President Donald Trump. In 2021, Van Orden was one of the thousands of participants in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, and he was present for the proceeding attack on the U.S. Capitol.

After joining Congress, Van Orden was involved in an incident last summer where he reportedly screamed at a group of teenage pages at the U.S. Capitol in a possibly alcohol-fueled rage. Despite his participation in the Jan. 6 attack, Van Orden became upset that the pages were “defiling the space,” when they were taking photographs of the rotunda. The ordeal resulted in the freshman congressman being hit with a formal ethics complaint in February.

Although Van Orden’s seat is seen as vulnerable, he has slightly led against both Shankland and Cooke in limited polling from before the primary.