Cooke, Van Orden meet for debate in toss-up 3rd CD race

Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden and his Democratic opponent Rebecca Cooke met Tuesday at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire for a debate in which Van Orden continued his ardent defense of President Donald Trump and Cooke worked to establish her moderate bonafides. 

The debate Tuesday morning was the first that Van Orden has appeared in since he first ran for Congress, losing in 2020 against former U.S. Rep. Ron Kind. In his two successful campaigns since then against state Sen. Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) in 2022 and Cooke in 2024, he refused to participate in any debates. 

The two candidates met two weeks before the election on the day that early voting opens across the state. Democrats are hoping the president’s record low approval ratings and voters’ concerns about the direction of the economy and war in Iran will spur a sweep in competitive districts across the country. On Tuesday morning, the election forecaster Sabato’s Crystal Ball changed its rating of the race from a toss-up to leaning Democratic. 

Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District stretches across the Driftless Region from the state’s southwest corner up to Eau Claire, with an extension into central Wisconsin and Stevens Point. One of the most closely contested districts in the country, the seat has frequently been a top target for both parties. 

Millions of dollars in spending have flooded into the area from both campaigns and outside groups in a race that observers have seen get increasingly negative — with Democrats attacking Van Orden’s often aggressive temperament and vociferous support of Trump while Republicans take jabs at Cooke’s authenticity and history of work as a political consultant for Democratic groups. 

During the hourlong debate hosted by the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce and WEAU 13 News, Van Orden defended his votes to pass Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, sustain his trade wars on countries around the world, send masked federal immigration agents into communities across Wisconsin and continue his war in Iran. He also repeatedly plugged a website created by his campaign that accuses Cooke of being a “commie” who supports defunding the police, giving sex change surgeries to transgender youth and letting undocumented immigrants vote. 

Cooke argued that Van Orden’s support of Trump has hurt working class people, farmers and families across the district while at the same time trying to establish that she disagrees with her party’s left wing. During the debate, she said that she’s actually the candidate in the race who is “putting America first and that we’re investing in our communities, putting Wisconsin first.” Van Orden responded that he’d get her a MAGA hat.  

Cooke also said she doesn’t support sanctuary cities, banning assault rifles, estate taxes or forgiving student loan debt. 

“I think that voters on the trail feel like this administration has been a disaster, and that their policies have made their lives harder and not easier,” Cooke said in a post-debate news conference. “I’m hearing from a lot of working families and retirees who are just really hanging on by a thread.” 

Moderated by WEAU’s John Frank and Kim Leadholm, the debate covered  the economy, government spending, immigration, healthcare, housing, childcare, energy, higher education, infrastructure and foreign policy. 

Economy

On the economy, Van Orden argued that the struggles people are currently facing began during the Biden administration. He named several home staples that are cheaper now than under Joe Biden. He also touted the tax cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as offering support to working people. 

“I’m so glad you said that out loud. You would have voted against what you called the One Big Beautiful Bill. That’s the Working Families Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” he told Cooke. “This is the largest tax cut in the history of our country, and Rebecca Cook is now again officially on record saying that she would not vote for it.”

Polling shows that the law is broadly unpopular, with a July survey from Politico finding that about one in three Americans believe it has hurt their personal finances. 

Cooke countered by saying that the only permanent tax cuts in the bill are the ones that went to the wealthiest Americans while the provisions that Van Orden touted, most notably cutting taxes on tips and overtime, expire after two years. She also argued that the war in Iran and Trump’s tariffs have done nothing but squeeze people in the 3rd CD. 

“I’m focused on an America-first agenda and making sure that we’re putting more resources back into the pockets of American taxpayers,” she said. “I want to make sure that you can afford your healthcare. I want to make sure that our public schools are not having to vote on a referendum every year, and I want to make sure that you can go to the grocery store, to the gas pump, pay your rent or mortgage and have a little left over.” 

Immigration

In January, when federal agents flooded into Minnesota’s Twin Cities as part of Operation Metro Surge, immigration enforcement actions also stretched into Wisconsin, going as far as Eau Claire and affecting the manufacturing plants and dairy farms in the 3rd CD that rely on immigrant labor. 

Van Orden brought up a 2024 incident in which a 26-year-old Venezuelan man attacked a woman and her teenaged child in Prairie du Chien — saying Cooke has refused to condemn violence by immigrants — while touting the endorsements he’s received from law enforcement organizations in the state. 

He also touted his proposed legislation through which currently undocumented farm workers will obtain legal status by going back to their home country, paying a fine and waiting in line to be given a visa — a policy proposal that some farmers see as unworkable. 

“Rebecca Cooke is saying that she wants these secure borders. There was up to 200,000 illegal aliens entering into the country every single month under Joe Biden’s presidency, and she said nothing,” Van Orden said. “Rebecca is right. Cows aren’t going to stop milking because of foreign immigration policy. A hog’s not going to stop growing because of foreign immigration policy. So as opposed to saying one thing and doing another, I’ve actually been working on this within the three years that I’ve been in Congress.”

Cooke said she supported some of the visa reforms that Van Orden has been working on while also arguing for a pathway to citizenship for the district’s immigrant workers, which she said hasn’t been achieved because both parties have used immigration as a political wedge. 

“It’s very, very important that we make sure that our border remains secure, right? And I want to make sure that our communities remain safe places to live and work and play, but I also want to recognize what a big part immigrant labor is to our workforce here in west central Wisconsin,” she said. “You look at the contributions from the manufacturing sector to our dairy farmers, and I think that we’ve got to have a clear pathway to citizenship and one that puts people that are playing by the rules that don’t have criminal backgrounds on that track. And I think for too long people have been playing partisan politics when it comes to immigration and playing partisan football. And we’ve got to focus on getting something done.”

Healthcare

On healthcare, Van Orden blamed rising costs on Democrats’ 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act and took credit for protecting local healthcare providers by working to get hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding into the state. 

“Those programs exist for a reason. They’re critically important,” he said. “I’ve done everything I can to fully fund them into the future, so that babies don’t have to worry about whether they’re getting pre-natal care or whether we’re delivering the babies. Or if we’re breaking arms, we can afford to get a cast.”

But that funding, Cooke pointed out, is a “backfill” that amounts to only a “drop in the bucket” when compared to the billions that will be lost because of the cuts to Medicaid included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

“I think everybody knows about the hospital closures here in the Chippewa Valley, and that was out of Derrick Van Orden’s watch,” she said. “We saw Sacred Heart close. We saw St. Joe’s and Chippewa Falls close. We’ve seen labor and delivery close in neighboring Menomonie. This was during his term as a congressman, and then you look at the vote that he took for the One Big Beautiful Bill, they cut healthcare for millions of Americans.” 

Tariffs and Iran 

Two of the Trump administration’s most unpopular policies have been the president’s tariffs and the war in Iran. Van Orden backed both on Tuesday. 

He argued that in Trump’s trade wars with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China, those other countries are “not the good guy,” that the tariffs are helping the district’s farmers and that they’re an important tool for fair trade. 

“Tariffs are a tool to make sure that we have fair trade throughout the United States, and Canada is not the good guy of the story. China is not the good guy of the story. Mexico is not the good guy in the story. The European Union is not the good guy in the story. What you’re about to hear is a candidate for federal office take Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union over Wisconsin farmers,” Van Orden said. “So, do I like tariffs for everything? Absolutely not. But they’re a tool.” 

Cooke said the tariffs are unpopular for a reason and that the district’s farmers don’t want “handouts” from the federal government to make up for the harms of federal policymaking. 

“I grew up on a dairy farm, like two miles down the road from here. I have lived a lot of failed policies from many different administrations,” she said. “People that have put partisanship or D.C. politics over the livelihoods of farmers across the state and across this country, and these tariffs, I’ve talked to people all across the 3rd Congressional District, at dairy breakfasts, county fairs, I’ve convened roundtables to talk to farmers explicitly about tariffs. Nobody likes them, right?” 

On Iran, Van Orden mentioned his military record as a former U.S. Navy SEAL while arguing the United States had to fight the “radical Muslim world” and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“So if people can rape, murder, torture, hold us economically hostage, and Rebecca Cooke is unwilling to fight that conflict, then I’d say that it’s disqualifying to be a member of Congress because we have to make decisions we don’t want to make, oftentimes,” he said. “And this is one: Do I want to be in a war with Iran right now? No, I don’t want to be in a war with anybody right now. Is it making it exponentially harder for Republicans to hold the House and the Senate? Yes, it is. But we have to think about our children and grandchildren. We’ve been fighting the war that the radical Muslim world has declared on us for 50 years, and I don’t want my grandchildren fighting the same war that I do. I think it’s time for this to stop. We must finish this.” 

Cooke said American foreign policy should lead with diplomacy — a tactic that Van Orden said amounted to a “strongly worded email” to Iran — while standing up to bullies around the world but that Congress should be more focused on the everyday needs of Americans right now.  

“We’ve seen so much spending — billions of taxpayer dollars go overseas when they could be invested in things here to put Wisconsin first, to put our communities first,” she said. “We’re looking at hospital closures here. We’re looking at our public schools flailing. We’re looking at so many difficult things for our Main Street businesses to be able to keep their doors open. So I’d like to end the war in Iran, which no one voted for. Even if they voted for Derrick Van Orden or for President Trump, they voted for no more foreign forever wars.” 

Energy

With energy prices rising across the country, both candidates said they opposed the controversial proposed transmission line that will cross through the region and attempted to tag the other with support for data centers. 

But Van Orden denounced the “war on fossil fuels” that he says Democrats have been waging while Cooke called for an “all of the above” energy strategy. 

Van Orden said Wisconsin should get its power from natural gas, “clean burning coal” and nuclear power. 

“It’s going to get 20 degrees below zero in the state of Wisconsin. Whether or not you want to have a windmill or a solar panel, we have to have base load power, nuclear, cleaner coal, gas,” he said. “That’s what we need to turn to. We need to stick with it. And then guess what? When it’s locally generated, you don’t need these monstrosities that they’re going to wreck the driftless with. It’s physics.” 

Cooke accused Van Orden of being “in the pocket of big tech” because of financial support from people including Elon Musk while saying she supported building renewables and maintaining other energy sources like nuclear. 

“I believe in mixing renewables while keeping our grid reliable. I also support advancements in small modular nuclear, which weans us away from our reliance on fossil fuels,” she said. 

Higher Education 

Colleges and universities across Wisconsin have been financially struggling due to decreasing enrollment, rising costs and federal cuts to both student aid and grants for universities. In the 3rd Congressional District, the University of Wisconsin campus in Richland Center closed in 2024. 

Cooke said she wants to better support the area’s students and higher education institutions through better grant programs for students in traditional colleges and the trades. 

“I was able to go to college with the help of Pell grants. I think that we need to have more federal funding to be invested into Pell grants, so more low-income and middle-income young people have the opportunity to go into whatever school they’d like to,” she said. “I also believe strongly in work-study programs, and also thinking about how that builds pipelines into our workforce within our communities.”

Van Orden said that his “trade happened to be war” and argued that government support should go to education in the trades or STEM programs. He also proposed that federal student loans should be offered interest free. 

“These lights are not on because someone has a degree in 13th century French poetry, they’re not,” he said, indicating the lighting on the debate stage. “They’re on because someone did get a STEM degree, then they got a master’s degree in electrical engineering. They wrote those plans and handed them to someone that went to trade school. That’s why the plumbing works. That’s why the road is flat. That’s why this glass is in place. That’s why we’re not freezing right now because we have heat here, which is an HVAC tech. So we have to invest money in younger people because that is an actual investment in the United States of America.”

In the debate room, the dozens of invited attendees — mostly the invited guests of the campaigns and local leaders — strictly followed the rules against vocal responses to the candidate’s remarks and after it ended, both candidates claimed victory. 

With Election Day two weeks away, voting has already begun. Locations for voting early absentee and in-person on Nov. 3 can by found at MyVote.WI.gov