House Speaker Mike Johnson stood alongside U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden at the American Legion in Sparta, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at a campaign stop in a competitive reelection fight for Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District. Van Orden met with constituents during the stop as he campaigns for another term representing the district.
The Sparta visit, reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, put Johnson shoulder to shoulder with Van Orden ahead of what is shaping up to be a hotly contested rematch against Democrat Rebecca Cooke. The choice of venue was no accident — the 3rd District stretches across western and southwestern Wisconsin's Driftless Area, an electorate that is 56.85% rural and 43.15% urban, according to Wikipedia, making rural veteran halls like Sparta's American Legion a natural stop to energize Van Orden's base.
A Rematch Born From a Razor-Thin 2024 Finish
Van Orden and Cooke are squaring off for the second straight cycle after Van Orden narrowly held the seat in November 2024, winning by just 2.72 percentage points — 51.3% to 48.6%, a margin of only 11,256 votes out of more than 412,000 cast, per Ballotpedia. Democrats are likely to prioritize the district again in 2026.
Nonpartisan election handicappers, including the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections, classified the race as a toss-up as of August, Ballotpedia reported. Cooke defeated former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge for the Democratic nomination, according to PBS News. It's Cooke's third run at the seat after previous bids in 2022 and 2024.
District Flipped in 2022 After Decades of Democratic Control
Van Orden first won the seat in November 2022, defeating Democrat Brad Pfaff by nearly 4 percentage points and flipping a district Democrats had held for 26 years under retiring U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, according to PBS Wisconsin.
That veterans' focus has shown up repeatedly in his legislative record. Van Orden introduced the federal K-9 Hero Act of 2026.
Spending and Digital Fights Already Escalating
Money has been pouring into the district for years. Candidates and parties raised more than $12 million in trying to win the 2024 contest, according to The Badger Project. This cycle has already brought its own friction: in September, the Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC launched ads branding Van Orden “Data Center Derrick” over his support for technology infrastructure tax incentives, part of a broader clash over corporate contributions and economic development that Hoodline detailed in its earlier coverage of the data center fight.
A legal dispute has also emerged in the campaign. WEAU and WPR reported on a cease-and-desist letter dated Sept. 30.
Candidates Set to Meet Face to Face on October 20
Van Orden and Cooke are scheduled to appear together at a forum on October 20, hosted by the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce in partnership with WEAU, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. The forum will give voters an opportunity to hear from both candidates.
