The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. 

Last Friday, Trump campaigned in Chippewa Falls to save faltering 3rd CD GOP Representative Derrick Van Orden from defeat in November. Trump’s visit to this swing CD followed recent campaigning there for Van Orden by Trump’s cabinet: Health Secretary Kennedy, Agriculture Secretary Rollins, Veterans Affairs Secretary Collins and Transportation Secretary Duffy. Why all the outsized attention?

The tiny GOP majority in the House clings to power by its fingertips. Van Orden is exhibit A. For months, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball have rated the 3rd CD election as a toss-up. Van Orden’s likely Democratic challenger, Rebecca Cooke, fits the 3rd CD like no other candidate. Cooke grew up on a dairy farm and was president of her 4-H club, the Truax Eagles. Moreover, she is out-organizing and out-fundraising Van Orden. Cooke has also garnered some Republican support.

Trump and other GOP bigwigs can’t save Van Orden. For one thing, midterm congressional elections most often see the party not in the White House gaining seats in Congress. Then there’s Trump’s growing unpopularity; his approval ratings are sinking like a stone. The Cook Political Report and Marquette Poll show a 20-24 percent gap between approval and disapproval. Voters, including rural Wisconsinites, are moving away from Trump and the GOP. They are paying attention to a do-nothing GOP-led Congress and Trump’s words: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.” (and) “It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things, they can do it on a state basis.” 

Then there are tone-deaf policy and legislative actions by Trump and the GOP-led Congress, including Van Orden. Trump’s tariffs, Iran War and so-called Big Beautiful Bill have left Wisconsinites reeling. Wisconsin farmers have lost domestic and foreign markets. There’s record inflation fueled by the Iran War. Diesel and gas prices way up, fertilizer costs soaring, grocery prices rising, as are mortgage rates. Manufacturing job growth is tepid. And, the Big Beautiful Bill is taking healthcare coverage away from millions, sharply reducing food assistance for the hungry, while giving humongous tax dodges and cuts to the wealthy.

Van Orden has been a cheerleader for these disastrous policies. He follows the party line, not what the 3rd CD needs. Look at his record last week: Van Orden voted to reduce food assistance for the hungry by sharply cutting the Women, Infants and Children Program; Van Orden again voted for the Iran War despite a few House Republicans coming to their senses; and despite his military service, he refused to join 18 other House Republicans who voted for loans and military assistance for Ukraine, the victim of Russian aggression.

No, Trump and GOP bigwigs can’t save Van Orden from his lack of judgment, refusal to respond to constituents and his flawed, reactionary record. The voters of the 3rd CD will have the last word in November. They have a really good alternative with Democratic candidate Rebecca Cooke. Unlike Van Orden, she listens and understands regular folks.

Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.