Two of Rebecca Cooke’s former primary rivals are now considering endorsing her as the political operative turned waitress and nonprofit director looks to beat U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, this fall.

The campaign manager for former Eau Claire Common Council President Emily Berge told WisPolitics Tuesday the two candidates have been in conversations.

“They’re having conversations about some key issues and making progress and moving forward on that,” Nick Tadesky said in a phone interview.

Earlier this month, Berge called on Cooke to join her in backing a federal moratorium on new large-scale AI data centers until Congress approved new regulations. In an ad her campaign released a few days later, Cooke said she’d fight for a data center development moratorium and knocked Van Orden for voting to make “it easier for billionaires to take our land, raise utility rates and build data centers without guardrails.”

Cooke announced plans for a “coming together tour” with fellow 3rd CD Dems Monday and Tuesday. It includes stops at county party offices Monday in Eau Claire, Portage and Jackson, and Tuesday in La Crosse, Monroe and Vernon counties. Neither Berge nor former 3rd CD Dem candidate Rodney Rave were part of the tour.

Cooke’s campaign didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Since Cooke’s victory last week, Van Orden has repeatedly called his Dem challenger the “Anointed One” in social media posts. In one last week, Van Orden said “democrat elites stole the election from Hong and Anointed @RebeccaforWI. Every day democrats had no choice in either one of those races.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee endorsed Cooke ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, which rankled some local activists. Last week, Cooke beat Berge with more than 60% of the vote.

Rave, a former Ho-Chunk Nation legislator from Black River, dropped out of the Dem primary in May, saying at the time that he believed Cooke “is wrong for the Third District of Wisconsin and wrong for the country.”

In a phone interview, Rave said he had hoped to attend one of Cooke’s events Monday to hear her position on various issues but got called out of town. Rave said Tuesday he initially endorsed Berge because he didn’t believe she’d be “another politician” in Congress while Cooke hadn’t convinced him of that. But he’s open to supporting Cooke.

“Whatever it takes to beat Van Orden,” Rave said. “I probably will endorse her. I’d just really like to speak to her kind of in person and just make sure she’s doing what’s right for the 3rd District and for Wisconsin and the whole country really.”