Cooke campaign: Van Orden enlists embattled speaker and Washington politician Mike Johnson on campaign trail

Comes after over 10 Administration officials visited the district on behalf of Van Orden this cycle

SPARTA, Wisc. — Today, Representative Derrick Van Orden enlisted the aid of embattled Speaker of the House and Washington politician Mike Johnson — fresh off of canceling 63 voting days this Congress and leading two of the least productive Congresses in history — on the campaign trail in Sparta.

Johnson’s visit to Wisconsin’s 3rd District comes after over 10 Administration officials, including President Trump, visited the district on behalf of Van Orden this cycle, and as Johnson and Van Orden seek to rebrand their disastrous “One Big Ugly Bill” that cut Wisconsinites’ health care while giving tax breaks to billionaires and data center companies.

“Derrick Van Orden is bringing in yet another out-of-touch Washington politician to campaign on his behalf because he can’t stand on his own two feet. This time, it’s Speaker Johnson, who has called Wisconsinites’ opposition to data centers a ‘Chinese psyop’ and whose agenda if re-elected as Speaker is to do ‘exactly what we have been doing already,’” said Rebecca Cooke. “What Speaker Johnson and Derrick Van Orden have done already is enact policies that sell out families like mine. They cut our health care so they could give that money to data centers and billionaires instead. They doubled down on tariffs that aren’t working and are hammering farmers. And they’ve supported the war in Iran that broke major promises to all of us at home and drove prices up even more. We don’t need another Washington politician telling us that we’re wrong about our own lives. We need change.”

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ABOUT REBECCA COOKE

Rebecca Cooke is a waitress, small business owner, and nonprofit leader who has focused her career on building community and serving others. Born and raised on an Eau Claire dairy farm and appointed by Governor Tony Evers to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Rebecca understands the challenges facing the small towns and rural communities for which she has fiercely advocated throughout her life. 

A sixth-generation Wisconsinite, Cooke comes from a long tradition of dairy farming and knows too well the challenges facing farming families. Like a lot of Wisconsin farmers, her family had to sell their cows because of the price of milk and competition with larger dairies. After working her way through college, Cooke moved home to open her own small business and nonprofit that provides start-up capital and hands-on education for women-owned businesses throughout 18 counties in northwestern Wisconsin. In addition, she now runs a hospitality business and waitresses three nights a week. 

Follow the campaign online at CookeForWisconsin.com, Facebook (/CookeForCongress), Twitter (@RebeccaForWI), and Instagram (@CookeForCongress).