Democrat · Wisconsin's 3rd District · 2026
Rebecca Cooke
Cooke grew up on an Eau Claire dairy farm and worked her way through college with grants and restaurant shifts.
Biography
Rebecca Cooke spent summers showing dairy cattle through 4-H while growing up on her family's Eau Claire farm; the family later sold its dairy herd and now raises beef cattle.1 Her grandfather worked a union job at a local paper mill.2 She paid for the University of St. Thomas with Pell Grants, work study and restaurant shifts, and continues to wait tables while campaigning.23
After working for Democratic campaigns around the country, she returned to Eau Claire and opened Red's Mercantile in 2015, selling goods made in America; the shop closed after seven years.2 In 2016, she founded the Red Letter Grant to help women start small businesses in northwestern Wisconsin.2 Governor Tony Evers appointed her to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation board in 2019.4
Cooke's current proposals include a $30 monthly cap on essential prescription drugs, broader Medicare coverage, restored federal health assistance and more support for rural hospitals.1 She also calls for a higher minimum wage, stronger antitrust enforcement in agriculture, more export opportunities and a moratorium on new large data centers.1 Her government reform agenda includes stock trading restrictions and congressional term limits.1
This is her third campaign for the seat, following a 2022 primary loss and a 2024 general election defeat by Republican Derrick Van Orden.5 Their rematch is among the contests that could determine House control, with both candidates seeking rural voters and debating health costs, agriculture, energy and President Trump's policies.3
Record and controversies
Electioneering inquiry closed without charges
A prosecutor declined charges after reviewing Cooke’s August press conference outside Eau Claire City Hall and an election day breakfast at a VFW that also housed a polling place.6 For the press conference, he found insufficient evidence of intent to violate the law; for the breakfast, he found no evidence of electioneering in the room where voting occurred.6 Cooke said her team believed the press conference was far enough from voting and that the breakfast involved ordinary pleasantries, not campaigning to patrons.6