After four years of avoiding public town halls and debates, US Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) took to the stage at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire on Tuesday and spent much of his time pivoting from the substance of moderators’ questions to making personal attacks on Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke.
As the debate was taking place, a key political forecaster published a new list of predictions that moved Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District from “toss up” to “lean Democratic.”
Cooke, who grew up on a farm near Eau Claire, made frequent mentions of her conversations across the district that centered on affordability issues, from healthcare costs and fuel prices to groceries and housing.
“Just yesterday I hosted a town hall” at a gas station, Cooke said, “asking them where they think the increased costs come from. And they point squarely to this war in Iran which Derrick Van Orden voted for six times.”
Van Orden claimed many prices are lower now than under President Joe Biden, without mentioning the global supply chain conditions brought about by a COVID pandemic that predated Biden’s term. Asked later in the debate about affordability issues, Van Orden attacked Cooke for having two parcels of property.
It was a common theme for Van Orden who made more than a half-dozen references to a website his campaign created to document claims about Cooke. It lists eight sections, the first one titled, “Commie.” Its source material is overwhelmingly based in conservative media sites and their talking points.
“We’ve seen members of Rebecca Cooke’s party saying she wants to abolish the Constitution and the presidency,” Van Orden said falsely at one point.
Here is a breakdown of the candidates’ statements on issues brought up in the debate by the moderators—WEAU-TV reporter Kim Leadholm and political analyst John Frank — and aired on WEAU.
Immigration
“It’s very, very important to make sure that our border is secure,” Cooke said. “But I also want to recognize what a big part immigrant labor is to our workforce here in west central Wisconsin. You look at the contributions to our manufacturing sector and to our dairy farmers, and I think that we’ve got to have a clear pathway to citizenship … for people who are playing by the rules.”
Van Orden used his time to cherry pick specific crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and alleged gang members. Cooke was first to credit Van Orden with attempting to reform agricultural visas to include year-round dairy labor, though the proposal remains bottled up in Congress.
Healthcare
A standard part of his stump speech, Van Orden again claimed credit for the creation of a “Rural Health Transformation Fund.”
“That’s the largest investment in rural healthcare in the history of our country,” Van Orden crowed.
Cooke rightly noted the fund is actually a fraction of the federal cuts to Medicaid that has put rural healthcare providers in an existential crisis, cuts Van Orden voted for.
“A backfill,” Cooke said. “A drop in the bucket that our hospitals actually need to stay open. People are going to get more sick in this district because of the things he voted for.”
Taxes
Van Orden said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates tax on tips and overtime. Cooke noted those provisions expire in three years while tax breaks enjoyed by billionaires are permanent.
Farm closures, according to Van Orden, are accelerating because of the inheritance tax, nicknamed the “death tax.” Cooke also said, “I do not support the death tax.” In fact, the estate tax has been raised so high — from $120,000 in 1977 to $30 million for married couples today, that virtually no family farms are impacted by it.
Trade: Blame Canada?
Van Orden is aware of the political price his party is paying when it comes to the president’s tariffs policies.
“Do I like tariffs for everything? Absolutely not,” Van Orden said. “But they’re a tool. And Canada is not the good guy in the story. China is not the good guy in the story. Mexico is not the good guy in the story. The European Union is not the good guy in the story.”
Cooke, by contrast, wants to see the US establish good relationships with allies and trading partners.
“Farmers don’t want handouts on the back end because of poor planning in Washington,” Cooke said about “failed policies” from both parties over the years. “They want places to be able to sell their goods to the world and to feed the world. We don’t want the administration to continue importing beef from Argentina, which undercuts our beef producers.”
Iran war
Cooke frequently returned to Trump’s decision to start a war with Iran without congressional approval as a factor in ongoing inflation.
“We’ve seen billions of taxpayer dollars go overseas,” Cooke said, “when they could be invested in things here, to put Wisconsin first, to put communities first.”
Van Orden claimed the need to attack exists, 46 years after hostages were taken at the US Embassy in Tehran.
“I spent my entire life either training for war,” Van Orden said, “training others for war, or at war myself. If these radical Muslim mullahs can take our citizens hostage, if they can beat them and torture them, if they can hold the entire globe economically hostage by controlling the Strait of Hormuz, what would it take for Rebecca Cooke to actually go to war with somebody?”
It should be noted the Strait of Hormuz was open and functioning prior to Trump’s attack.
Other topics covered in the debate included energy sources, data centers, support for vocational education, and making housing more affordable.
Asked about a view on which their stance has changed over time, Cooke said she now supports the ownership of assault rifles, so long as there are universal background checks and red flag laws to target people with mental impairments.
Van Orden said his only evolution was to “become progressively more disgusted with the federal government.”
Attacking Cooke may not be enough
The 3rd District is one of the few competitive districts remaining among US House seats. With President Donald Trump setting new record lows for unpopularity and Van Orden remaining in lockstep with his positions, his chances of winning a third term are not highly rated by political analysts. The “Crystal Ball” list of races by Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics was updated midway through the debate, moving the 3rd from “toss up” to “lean Democratic.”
