Rebecca Cooke

The Associated Press called the Wisconsin 3rd District House race for Cooke at 5:49 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time on November 4, 2026. A race call is a media projection, and the cited sources do not document state certification of the result.

The 2026 race was Cooke's third congressional campaign. She lost the 2022 Democratic primary to Brad Pfaff, according to Volume One, and she lost the 2024 general election, according to the Wisconsin Independent.

In the Wisconsin Watch 2026 voter guide, Cooke reported no elected experience. A House seat would be her first elected office.

Cooke was born and raised on a dairy farm in Eau Claire, according to her campaign biography, which describes her as a sixth-generation Wisconsinite. She attended Eau Claire public schools and earned a degree from the University of St. Thomas.

The biography does not list her field of study or graduation year. It says she paid for college with Pell Grants, work-study and waitressing.

In the Wisconsin Watch voter guide, Cooke gave her age as 38, her residence as the Town of Tainter and her occupation as waitress. Her biography says she returned to Eau Claire after her Democratic campaign work.

Cooke opened Red's Mercantile in Eau Claire in 2015 and closed it after seven years, her campaign says. Volume One reporter McKenna Scherer described the shop in an August 19, 2022, article as a seller of American-made home goods and clothing.

Cooke announced the closure on August 11, 2022. Volume One reported that she planned to close the store regardless of the outcome of the 2022 Democratic primary, which she lost to Pfaff.

The same report said Cooke's nonprofit, Red Letter Grant, would continue and that she was considering a new business.

Cooke founded Red Letter Grant in 2016, according to her campaign, and the nonprofit's website names her as its founder. Red Letter Grant states that its mission is to support female entrepreneurs.

The organization lists startup capital, small-business workshops, and mentorship and peer networks as its forms of support. Cooke's campaign site gives two different counts of the businesses the grant has helped, and the cited sources contain no independent tally.

Governor Tony Evers appointed Cooke to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) board, her campaign biography says. Her Wisconsin Watch questionnaire also lists the WEDC appointment, after her business and nonprofit work.

Cooke's campaign platform calls for a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers and for ending tax breaks. It also supports a ban on surveillance-based differential pricing and calls for data privacy protections.

At an October 20, 2026, candidate forum, Cooke said a moratorium on new data centers would allow a pause to examine their effects on utilities, the environment and communities, according to a transcript WEAU posted on October 22. She said she favors renewable energy combined with small modular nuclear power for reliability.

Cooke's attorneys have objected to artificial intelligence (AI) videos from the Van Orden campaign, a dispute over campaign conduct covered below. No broader AI regulation proposal from Cooke appears in the cited sources.

Cooke said at the October 20 forum that she supports securing the border and a path to citizenship for people who have played by the rules and have no criminal background. She said criminals should be deported and that she rejects sanctuary cities.

She also backed extending H-2A agricultural visas so dairy farms can employ workers year-round. Her campaign platform supports strong funding for police and border security.

Cooke named rural healthcare access and affordability as a priority in the Wisconsin Watch voter guide. She listed adding vision, dental and hearing coverage to Medicare, building a healthcare workforce pipeline, and raising Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for rural hospitals and clinics.

In an October 21, 2026, interview with Wisconsin Independent reporter Jonah Beleckis, Cooke said she supports a three-year extension of the expanded Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium credits. For the longer term, she said she supports a public health insurance option while keeping people's choice of private insurance.

She also told the Wisconsin Independent she wants higher Medicare and Medicaid payments to rural hospitals, along with help recruiting and retaining staff. These are her proposals, and the interview reports no resulting change in prices or coverage.

Cooke's platform calls for expanding agricultural exports, enforcing antitrust law for farms, ending tariffs and protecting farmland from foreign purchases. For small businesses, it proposes permitting and licensing reform, tax deductions and credits, and incentives for domestic inputs.

At a September 9, 2026, small-business roundtable in La Crosse with Tammy Baldwin, Cooke voiced concern about reciprocal tariffs and their effects on soybeans, cranberries and trade with Canada, WEAU reported. She backed a ban on stock trading by members of Congress and said she had taken a pledge to accept no corporate political action committee (PAC) money.

Van Orden's campaign responded by citing his own tax and small-business deduction record, according to the same report.

Cooke said at the October 20 forum that she supports Pell Grants and work-study, the same programs her campaign biography says helped her pay for college. She said she opposes universal student debt relief.

Her platform supports a $15 minimum wage and labor organizing. It also backs abortion rights and federal support for family planning.

Cooke's attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter on September 30, 2026, objecting to AI videos from Van Orden that, the letter said, simulated statements Cooke never made. Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) reporter Sarah Lehr reported the letter on October 1.

The letter alleged defamation and said Cooke was weighing her legal options. Van Orden's campaign criticized Cooke and responded with another AI video.

The defamation claim is Cooke's allegation. The WPR report describes no court ruling on it.

Barron County District Attorney Brian Wright recommended no prosecution after reviewing two Cooke campaign events for possible electioneering, according to records reported by WEAU reporter Kim Leadholm on September 10, 2026.

The first event was an August 4 press conference at City Hall while absentee voting was underway. Wright cited insufficient evidence of intent or knowledge, given the ambiguous location.

The second was an August 11 breakfast at a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) building that served as a polling place. Wright found no evidence of electioneering in the meeting hall where voting took place.

Cooke said she chose the City Hall site for its visual and symbolic value, did not intend to influence voters and believed she was 100 feet away. She said her team exchanged ordinary pleasantries at the breakfast. A prosecutor's recommendation against charges is a different outcome from a court acquittal.

Cooke's campaign committee, Cooke for Congress (C00844993), reported $12,675,996.72 in receipts and $12,238,748.98 in disbursements from January 1, 2025, to October 14, 2026, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC lists her under candidate ID H4WI03169 as a Democratic House candidate in Wisconsin's 3rd District.

The committee reported $447,387.26 cash on hand and $0 in debts at the end of that period. Individual contributions totaled $10,940,401.91, about 86.3 percent of receipts ($10,940,401.91 divided by $12,675,996.72).

Contributions from other committees totaled $789,321.31, about 6.2 percent of receipts, and the cited FEC figures do not break that total down by committee type. The totals cover one committee over one period and do not measure Cooke's personal wealth or outside spending in the race.

The FEC page warns that its summary data can lag new filings by up to 48 hours. Other 2026 federal races are on the federal elections page. For Cooke for Congress filings after October 14, 2026, open Rebecca Cooke's FEC candidate page.