Congressional candidate Cooke tours CF, touts farm background

Apr. 14—CHIPPEWA FALLS — Rebecca Cooke said she doesn't mind being the outsider in the Democratic race for the 3rd Congressional District nomination.

"I'm not the establishment Democrat," Cooke said during a tour of Chippewa Falls on Wednesday. "I'm not the legacy candidate. I'm the only working class person in this race, and I think that is what people are looking for."

Cooke added: "I know people (in western Wisconsin) don't want a political elite representing them in Congress."

Cooke, 34, is an Eau Claire business owner, and she is among six Democratic candidates seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, in Congress. Her opponents are retired pediatric critical care physician Mark Neumann of La Crosse, state Sen. Brad Pfaff of Onalaska, former CIA officer and U.S. Army Capt. Deb McGrath of Menomonie and political newcomer Brett Knudsen of Holmen, and Justin Bradley of La Crosse. The candidate filing deadline is June 1.

Derrick Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL who lives in Prairie du Chien, is the lone Republican running for the seat, considered one of the most competitive in the country. Kind defeated Van Orden in 2020 by just under 3 percentage points.

The partisan primary will be Aug. 9, followed by the general election on Nov. 8.

To get her name out and attempt to stand out in the crowded Democratic field, Cooke is heading out on a 19-county tour of the Congressional District. Her day-long stop in Chippewa County included visiting a family farm that milks 400 cows, three times a day.

"It was important for me to show up on farms and hear from them directly," Cooke said. "I want to be a real advocate."

She also met with a group of seniors to discuss rising drug prices, and had a meeting planned with young professionals.

Money is always a factor in large races, for purchasing ads and creating awareness of the candidate.

"We are remaining competitive," Cooke said. "And we are a scrappy campaign."

Cooke has operated a retail store, Red's Mercantile, in downtown Eau Claire for the past six years and the nonprofit organization Red Letter Grant since 2016. Red Letter Grant, which provides start-up capital, technical assistance and networking opportunities to female entrepreneurs in a 10-county area of western Wisconsin, has helped launch 23 women-owned businesses.

Born and raised on a dairy farm just west of Eau Claire, Cooke also has served on the Downtown Eau Claire Inc. board of directors and was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. board, where she is co-chair of the newly formed Entrepreneurship & Innovation Committee. After graduating from Eau Claire North High School and St. Thomas University in St. Paul, she served as finance director for several political campaigns, including the successful 2014 reelection bid by California Democratic Congressman Raul Ruiz. She continued doing some political consulting after returning to Eau Claire in 2015.

Cooke, calling herself a "farmer's daughter," had a traumatic day on her farm in the town of Wheaton on Tuesday. A barn caught fire; luckily, they were able to get a tractor out, and their cattle were on a hill and not nearby.

"It's amost part of our history and heritage, and it's gone," Cooke said. "It was really just shocking. It was really emotional, frankly."