Cooke Shares Legislative Priorities Following Midterm Victory

Following her victory in Tuesday's election, Rebecca Cooke spoke with the media about what comes next as she prepares to represent Wisconsin's Third Congressional District.

During a virtual press conference on Friday morning, Cooke thanked her supporters and campaign staff for the work they put in to flip the district back to Democratic control. With a new Democratic majority in the House and Senate, she's hoping to hit the ground running and start delivering on her campaign promises.

"I'm really excited for our victory that happened on Tuesday," she said. "Excited to be able to move the ball forward to deliver on campaign promises that I made to the people of the Third Congressional District, being able to get to Congress to lower costs, combat corruption, support small business, bolster agriculture, and really work to rebuild an American dream that we can actually grasp."

Asked what she believes Democrats should focus on in the first 100 days with their new majorities in Congress, Cooke highlighted improving healthcare affordability and access as the first issues that need to be addressed.

"The things that I think we should focus on in the first 100 days are expanding the ACA tax credit premiums for three more years," she said. "That's something Congress was trying to do last Fall and I think would provide people pretty immediate relief. There's so many folks in this district who have seen their premiums go up from $400 to $1,800 a month. I think getting a public option passed is something that we could do rather quickly, as well as expanding Medicare to cover vision, dental and hearing. And I know a lot of people are concerned here in the Chippewa Valley about Medicare Advantage, I think there's a lot of ways that we can improve Medicare."

Cooke says she'll be working to set up her new offices in the Third Congressional District and Washington D.C. over the next few weeks so constituents can easily contact her with issues. She will also be working with her outgoing opponent in Tuesday's election, Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden, to ensure a seamless transition.