EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. — Today, Rebecca Cooke, candidate for Congress in Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, announced a new ad entitled “Sold Us Out.” The ad calls attention to one of the top issues on people’s minds, data centers, but more importantly it highlights how Derrick Van Orden turned his back on our community for his corporate donors. This ad comes a day after Derrick Van Orden received PAC funds from SpaceX on top of the maximum contribution he’d already received from tech CEO Elon Musk. 

“We live here and should decide what gets built in our backyards,” said Rebecca Cooke. “AI and tech companies are moving too fast to build new data centers in Wisconsin with too many questions still unanswered related to environmental impacts, the costs to ratepayers, the long-term job creation and more. I’m calling for a moratorium — more time to get these questions answered. We’ve been promised a lot by politicians in the past that have left us with a raw deal — Derrick Van Orden is one of them.”

“Sold Us Out” will run in La Crosse, Wausau, Madison, and Minneapolis media markets on broadcast and cable. It will also run district-wide on streaming and social media. This comes on top of a $3,000,000 reservation the Cooke Campaign has already placed for the General Election.

Transcript:

I’m Michael Lawler, and I’m part of a group that’s organizing against data centers.

Derrick Van Orden sold us out. He voted to make it easier for billionaires to take our land, raise utility rates to build data centers without guardrails.

Derek Van Orden fights for corporations.

Rebecca Cooke, she fights for working families. She’s the only Democrat tough enough to take on these billionaires and corporations. 

I’m Rebecca Cooke and I approve this message. I’ll fight for a moratorium on data centers because our communities deserve leaders who don’t sell them out.