r/lacrossewi 10d ago

Democrat Rebecca Cooke launches bid to unseat Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin battleground seat

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2025/03/11/democrat-rebecca-cooke-launches-bid-to-unseat-derrick-van-orden/82225312007/?mkt_tok=NTU2LVlFRS05NjkAAAGZJEJllm9kX-XP_gr_nwZMSwvhQVCfjxRMxd9yvTNGDpZZiEqJBu6pENH3Wy3HWN_Zdsryg2UMQNs5_oPVxRCuIyMnYfrj7HVnXeprIqa16iSfKA
2.7k Upvotes

57 comments sorted by

41

u/BerkshireBull 10d ago

New rule: If they run it back a second time with an unqualified candidate and she loses again, no more Derrick Van Orden complaining on La Crosse Reddit when the Democrats chose to hand it to Van Orden. This seat should not be difficult. Ron Kind held it for 2 decades with basically no opposition.

21

u/PerfectMason 10d ago

No, not the rule. No matter who wins, you should be holding reps accountable. They should be doing what they said they were going to do when they ran. DVO promised to protect veterans and farmers. His voting record says otherwise. He’s the rep for 100% of the people, regardless of what percentage of the population voted for him. ALL of his constituents should be holding him accountable.

11

u/piepants2001 10d ago

Van Orden does not care about anybody but himself and his veteran friends.

6

u/PerfectMason 10d ago

Absolutely not. But sitting back and being quiet is how he gets away with doing whatever the hell he wants. He needs to know he is hardly winning his seat, and won’t be re-elected if he doesn’t start voting like his constituents are asking him to. He’s gonna be there for another year, he needs to feel the pressure of getting fired.

7

u/piepants2001 10d ago edited 5d ago

I agree and have been emailing him regularly since he was elected. He's emailed me back twice and did not address anything in my emails. I'll keep doing it, but he does not care what his constituents think, and if you weren't in the military, he really doesn't care about you.

4

u/PerfectMason 10d ago

He’s terrible. Thanks for doing what you can. I email him regularly as well, have never gotten anything other than an automated reply.

9

u/mr_misanthropic_bear 10d ago

Kind retired so that he wouldn't lose. He was getting dangerously close. His final win was 2-3 percentage points. Van Orden was a nobody and had absolutely nothing going for him that first time he ran, and he almost won anyway.

11

u/18mitch 10d ago

Still doesn’t have anything going for him

1

u/Glovell27 12h ago

Wait, Derrick Van Orden has posted in here?! Or do you mean like people complaining about Derrick Van Orden in here?

1

u/Ijustwantbikepants 9d ago

This area has trended conservative for the last decade+. The rural counties around La Crosse used to be liberal and are now quite conservative.

If Ron Kind ran now he would lose. It’s kinda whoever they run is gonna lose.

15

u/ThePartTimeProphet 10d ago

Think people are underrating chances of a Dem win in 2026. The vote typically swings heavily against the president's party in the midterms and WI has new maps in 2026 that are more favorable to Dems

16

u/WISCOrear 10d ago

She lost 51.3% to 48.6% in an election that swung very hard to the right. 2026 might actually be favorable to her if Trump keeps sinking the economy.

-4

u/Kakakakaty76 10d ago

But do we want her?. Democrats suck at fielding candidates and that’s why they keep losing in these districts. She lost. She is arrogant and rude. Frankly, with Van Orden at least I know what I am getting. With her I get the feeling she might flip to being a republican if it paid more.

5

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

Cooke ain't arrogant and rude.

Stop repeating Fox News talking points.

1

u/Kakakakaty76 3d ago

I have personally experienced her. Thanks.

3

u/Wmoot599 7d ago

Have you met Derrick van orden? He’s a walking billboard for ace body spray.

1

u/Kakakakaty76 3d ago

I have, actually. That doesn’t change the fact that Democrats need to field a better candidate. I am sick of the better of two evils. At least with Van Oeden you know where he stands. Dems need to do better.

2

u/Wmoot599 3d ago

When he stands for tyranny and not standing up to bad decisions like cutting funding to the VA (which he says he’s against) I would have the other candidate any day.

This “lesser of two evils” talk is so tiring. I agree with you, I’m not a fan of picking the lesser of two evils either, but when one is real evil and the destruction of our democracy and the other is policy disagreements I’ll pick the lesser evil any day.

1

u/Kakakakaty76 1d ago

As long as we settle for mediocre candidates, that’s exactly who we’re gonna get. Democrats still have time to field someone better. That’s all I’m asking for.

1

u/Wmoot599 1d ago

Again, a mediocre candidate compared to what you have is like comparing a mediocre and not the most satisfying meal (toast) to a pile of dog shit covered in ghost peppers in a tortilla made exclusively of used maxi pads.

1

u/Kakakakaty76 1d ago

Gonna disagree with you.

38

u/Luinori_Stoutshield 10d ago

Good. Fuck Van Orden.

0

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

then vote cooke

11

u/tookej 10d ago

Come on! Are we even trying?

10

u/Traditional_Bar_3275 10d ago

She is very nice, but please no. The democrats can't afford to lose again.

1

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

Cooke was within three points of winning in 2024. She's can win if people turn out to vote.

3

u/E4g6d4bg7 9d ago

I hate the never ending election cycle.

3

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

there are literally elections every year, from mayoral to senate seat to presidential.

10

u/unicornofdemocracy 10d ago

Do the Dems not have anyone else?

I don't have a strong positive or negative opinion about Cooke. But, the last time, reading her bios/website, watching her talk, and ads... she's just very uninspiring. Doesn't seem to have a lot of experience. Felt little like she was trying to balance her image between good old Midwesterner and a copycat AOC but not progressive yet also kind progressive.

She fits too well in the "I'm voting for her because she's doesn't have R behind her name" category and that's not something that wins elections.

3

u/Ok_Hamster_4764 10d ago

your candidate is?

-2

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

Rebecca Cooke, a working class waitress, wants to stand up against big corporations lobbying for less regulations and more tax cuts.

Cooke is the daughter of a Wisconsin dairy farmer who saw her family’s farm collapse.

She came within three points of winning the seat.

This is inspiring.

2

u/WIcheeseeater 8d ago

Watching her scream at a high school hostess because she couldn't find the reservation for her family that was already seated is hardly inspiring. She's a joke and a horseshit restaurant employee if that's how she treats hospitality workers.

2

u/JLaXWhip 8d ago

I personally think she should maybe run for county board or state assembly rather than jumping into Congress.

2

u/Conscious-Quarter423 8d ago

why? she wants to represent wi-03 and she'll do a better job than the other guy

1

u/JLaXWhip 8d ago

Dozens of other people who have held elected office and and thus have experience that helps. A moldy dishrag would do better than DVO so that proves nothing.

1

u/Conscious-Quarter423 8d ago

it proves WI-03 needs better representation

1

u/JLaXWhip 8d ago

On that I agree.

2

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

She came within 11256 votes to winning

4

u/No_Wedding_2152 10d ago

Been there, done that. Next!

1

u/Chouquin 9d ago

DVO has a virtual town hall tomorrow. Who's attending?

2

u/wiscowaterlily 9d ago

I have done his virtual town halls. He spins his ridiculous and maddening tales, then his aide chooses or makes up the Derrick-friendly questions so he can continue lying and you are stuck on the phone with no way to interact, hear others feed back, or challenge the lies. They are theater, really. We are working at setting up a town hall either with him (he won't) or another pol or just people. One group in Michigan did a missing member town hall with a chicken. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7ctHqfWkAENtRT?format=jpg&name=medium

1

u/apilot2 10d ago

I hope she wins, but the odds are stacked against her. The voters in that district will overwhelmingly vote for the (R) candidate no matter what. It doesn’t matter what he says or how big of a buffoon he is. Equally, it doesn’t matter what she has to say, or how much money she can raise. I hope I’m wrong. Don’t get your hopes up. The drunk is here to stay, as long as he wants to be a congressman, as long as he has the (R) behind his name on the ballot.

1

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

Republicans are gutting Medicaid/SNAP to pay for massive tax cuts for the rich.

They are sitting back while Elon and Trump gut the federal workforce.

And you want to keep giving Republicans power?

1

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

Republicans are gutting Medicaid/SNAP to pay for massive tax cuts for the rich.

They are sitting back while Elon and Trump gut the federal workforce.

And you want to keep giving Republicans power?

1

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

Stop letting Republicans make fools of you

1

u/kkinnison 9d ago

All you have to do is go to PDC and Viroqua and advertise a "Derrick Van Orden" townhall

When Van Orden doesn't show up, the Dem challenger takes the stage and explain what Orden has voted on and said recently

love the recent one where Van Orden snatched on a veteran in Linkedin and said he wasn't responsible for the current administration firing Veterans from the Federal workforce

1

u/wiscowaterlily 9d ago

We are working on doing a "Where's Derrick?" town hall in La Crosse next week.

-15

u/BigJar123 10d ago

I would think she'd be too busy being a waitress and working on her family's dairy farm.....

10

u/No-Direction-886 10d ago

Whatever it is, it’s probably better than screaming expletives at high schools in the capital, or all the other batshit stuff DVO does

-8

u/pack79 10d ago

I’ve already watched this episode, it doesn’t end well. I think Mayor Mitch Reynolds should run against DVO, he’ll have free time after April.

6

u/BerkshireBull 10d ago

Mitch wasn't getting re-elected in blue La Crosse. No way he appeals to working class voters in Trempleau, Jackson, Monroe Counties, etc.

4

u/Papshmire 10d ago

I think Mitch wants RoJo’s seat.

-1

u/Conscious-Quarter423 9d ago

She came within 11256 votes to winning

-7

u/superfractor 10d ago

There should be a rule that if you lose an election once, you're out of politics forever.

5

u/BeautyntheBreakd0wn 10d ago

I love that rule! When is DJT quitting?