WI-03: Democrats vying for 3rd US House District face off in candidate forum
Two Democrats vying for a shot at defeating Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden courted party activists Thursday during a Democratic Party forum in Platteville.
The 3rd Congressional District race is considered a tossup and seen as key to Democrats’ hopes of ending the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and slowing President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Democrats Rebecca Cooke and Emily Berge agreed on a lot during the hour-and-a-half long forum at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, located near the southern edge of the 3rd District. They agreed that policies from President Trump and Republicans who control the House and U.S. Senate have hurt Wisconsinites. Berge and Cooke agreed to a lesser extent on how to respond.
There’s around two months to go until voters in the 3rd District will decide who will face Van Orden, but national Democrats already made their choice in February. That’s when the House Democrats’ campaign arm added Cooke to its “Red to Blue” program aimed at flipping Republican-held districts, which came with staff, training and fundraising support.
https://www.wpr.org/news/democrats-vying-3rd-us-house-district-2026-candidate-forum