Cooke Wins Democratic Primary in Third Congressional District

Rebecca Cooke will once again be the Democratic nominee for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District in the 2026 midterm election.

Cooke defeated former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge in Tuesday’s primary election, setting up a rematch with incumbent Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden in November. After the race was called by the Associated Press, Cooke thanked Berge for the work of her campaign and welcomed her supporters to rally around their common goal over the coming months.

“I also want to thank my opponent, Emily Berge, and her team who worked to build deep relationships across this district and bring people together around a common goal,” she said. “A common goal that we all share, to restore pragmatic leadership to Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District and to defeat Derrick Van Orden.”

Cooke also highlighted the strength of the coalition she’s built over recent years, as well as the importance of having a representative in Congress who is willing to work across the aisle to help their constituents.

“This moment is truly for the people,” she said. “The coalition of small business owners, healthcare workers, educators, farmers across this district with whom I’ve built trust over time. We need more working class people to represent us in D.C. who aren’t so far left or so far right, but want to work across the aisle to actually get things done.”

Cooke fell short against Congressman Van Orden in the 2024 election by less than three percentage points, but did outpace both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Senator Tammy Baldwin in the Third Congressional District. She cited the increasing cost of healthcare and the impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies as a cause of frustration for local voters, believing those issues will rally more supporters to her campaign this time around.