READSTOWN, Wis. — Derrick Van Orden is standing firmly with President Donald Trump in his bid to hold Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, a swing seat Democrats hope to reclaim in November.
Van Orden, a two-term Republican from western Wisconsin and a former Navy SEAL, argues that House Republicans who distance themselves from Trump are making a mistake and showing disloyalty. He is betting that energizing the conservative base remains the best path in a district Trump has carried three times.
“There’s something that’s sorely lacking in this political business and it’s loyalty,” Van Orden said ahead of a trip to Dallas to appear at Trump’s midterm convention this week.
Van Orden faces Democrat Rebecca Cooke, a political activist who grew up on a dairy farm and works part time as a restaurant server. The matchup is a rematch of their race two years ago, which Van Orden won by less than 3 percentage points.
Wisconsin’s 3rd District is among a dwindling number of competitive House seats that could determine whether Democrats recapture control of Congress. The V-shaped district borders Minnesota and the Mississippi River to the west and Illinois to the south.
It has a history of favoring moderates, having elected Democrat Ron Kind for 26 years before his 2022 retirement, and previously a moderate Republican for 16 years.
Barack Obama twice carried the district for president. Trump won it three times, while narrowly winning Wisconsin in 2016 and 2024 and losing the state in 2020.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has called it “a bellwether district in a bellwether state.”
Both campaigns are blanketing the region. On Labor Day, Van Orden and Cooke landed in the same tiny Driftless Area village of Readstown, population under 500, for a parade.
Cooke said voters are “looking for something fresh and something different,” arguing people are tired of politics as usual.
Some locals echoed that sentiment. “I think a lot of people are fed up with the mess we’re in right now and a change is what we need,” said Nancy Deckert, 75, a retired postal worker.
Others lined up behind the incumbent. Bar owner John Collett, who described himself as “ultra MAGA,” said Van Orden is “fighting for the American people.”
Van Orden, who underperformed Trump in 2024, said he is confident those voters will stick with him. “Cooke knows that she needs to have people who voted for Trump vote for her, and that just ain’t happening,” he said.
According to voting records, Van Orden sided with Trump nearly 100% of the time in 2025. Trump has pledged to back him “100% all the way to November.”
Federal Election Commission filings show America PAC, associated with tech executive Elon Musk, spent about $10,000 for Van Orden this month.
Derrick Van Orden doubles down on Trump ties in bellwether Wisconsin
Trump’s only visit to Wisconsin so far in his second term was to Van Orden’s district.
Senior administration figures have also stumped for him, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., FBI Director Kash Patel and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Cooke called it a “big mistake” for Van Orden to tie himself so closely to Trump, citing an August Marquette University Law School poll showing only about 4 in 10 Wisconsin voters approve of the president’s performance.
Van Orden said he has no second thoughts. “I’ve done everything I possibly can to help the people here in the 3rd District,” he said, adding that voters will decide if they want “somebody else who is a rampant socialist to represent them.”
Van Orden spoke Wednesday at the Republican convention billed as “Trump-a-Palooza,” pushing tax cuts and more federal support for rural health care.
The district’s largest city has a population of about 72,000, making access to care a top concern.
Van Orden attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally in Washington before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
He has been involved in a series of high-profile incidents, and he frequently trades sharp, sometimes profanity-laced messages with liberal Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and others on social media.
This year he has faced criticism for AI-generated videos that depict fabricated images of Cooke making statements she did not make. He has defended the videos as satire.
“I’m super easy to demonize because I am very aggressive on social media,” Van Orden said, contending that he pushes back due to threats against him and his family.
Cooke lost to Van Orden by just over 11,000 votes two years ago, while outperforming Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Sen. Tammy Baldwin in the district.
She says the political environment “is really different” this year. “People are really frustrated and disappointed with the Trump administration and the things that they were promised,” she said.
Cooke, a former small-business owner who ran a nonprofit supporting women-owned businesses, is pitching a big-tent Democratic populist message.
She is backed by a wide range of groups, from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the House Blue Dog PAC to progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, who campaigned with her last year.
The coalition gives her support from the party’s progressive wing while countering attacks that she is the choice of Washington insiders.
Van Orden has targeted Cooke over past comments that if she lived in New York City she would have supported democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for mayor.
In a campaign ad, Van Orden appears with a firearm and a Bible, saying, “I fought extremists overseas as a Navy SEAL, but now they are here.”
Dean Young, 75, a former teacher and milk truck driver who lives near Readstown, called the ad “unbelievable.”
Sitting along the parade route with a dog in his lap, he said, “People are getting angry. They’re finally starting to suffer. I think that’s going to lead to some change.”
Some swing-district dynamics in Wisconsin echo concerns seen among Michigan swing voters in other parts of the Midwest.
The race comes as Trump continues to draw scrutiny over past remarks, including fact-checked claims about a 9/11 ceremony speech that have fueled broader debates over his credibility.
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