MADISON, Wis. — While voters in the third congressional district spend most days worrying about the cost of gas and groceries, new reporting from the Wisconsin Examiner highlights Derrick Van Orden’s history of prioritizing violent rhetoric over listening to his constituents. Van Orden has yelled at teenage pages, a teenage librarian, attended the January 6th insurrection, and was even fined for bringing a gun to the airport. His behavior online is no different. His hundreds of weekly tweets include references to putting a gun – even specifying the exact type of firearm – in a protester’s face and calling “every day Palestinians…unrepentant savages.” 

Voters of the third congressional district are tired of Van Orden’s outbursts and Twitter tantrums and are eager to be represented in Congress by someone committed to advance policies that alleviate the cost crisis Van Orden helped create.
 

Wisconsin Examiner: 3rd Congressional District Democrats say they’ll represent regular people better than Van Orden
By: Henry Redman | 5/21/26

  • In the six years since U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden first entered Wisconsin’s political landscape, Democrats have often run against the Prairie du Chien Republican by pointing to his long list of perceived character flaws. 
  • The multiple instances of yelling at teenagers, attending the protest that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the gun he brought to the airport, tirades against constituents, the hundreds of tweets he sends every week, lying to the press that he didn’t vote to cut Medicaid. 
  • Just this week, he’s made online posts calling Palestinians “unrepentant savages” and said a pro-Palestinian protester in New York should “catch a 5.56 with his face,” referring to a type of ammunition commonly used by the military and in AR-15 style weapons. 
  • Van Orden has also refused to debate his Democratic opponents and has never appeared for an in-person town hall with constituents. People and local government officials in the district complain that he’s difficult to reach for help on local issues — and often openly antagonistic when the people asking for help are Democrats.
  • Those objections to Van Orden’s temperament are motivating to the Democratic base of the 3rd Congressional District. At the No Kings rally in La Crosse in late March, just the mention of Van Orden was met by one attendee with a fart noise.