Hi John, it's Rebecca Cooke, the Democratic nominee in WI-03 — a key battleground district that could decide House control.
I want to share more about why I believe we have a prime opportunity to unseat Derrick Van Orden and flip Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District. But first, I want to tell you my story, why I'm in this race, and why we need community champions in Congress.
I'm a proud daughter of West Central Wisconsin, and I come from a long line of dairy farmers in the Chippewa Valley, where I was raised.
Growing up on my family's farm, I learned the importance of hard work and resilience from an early age. Money was tight, but my parents worked hard to open doors of opportunity for me.
I spent my summers showing our registered Holsteins around the state.
Their example and my love for this community are why I built my business, Red's Mercantile, right here in Eau Claire to amplify American-made products made by homegrown talent. It's also why I launched a nonprofit called the Red Letter Grant to help women entrepreneurs start main-street businesses throughout western Wisconsin.
It wasn't long before folks started to take notice. I became the youngest person appointed by Gov. Tony Evers to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, where I continued working on growing entrepreneurship and innovation across our state.
Awarding the first Red Letter Grants to Wisconsin's future entrepreneurs.
At my old shop, Red’s Mercantile.
John: we are at a crossroads. We have so much potential, but unfortunately, too many working-class families can't afford health care or find affordable housing. Our rural communities struggle with poor infrastructure, lack of internet access, and many family farms — like the one I grew up on — are suffering.
We need a homegrown, working class representative who understands these issues firsthand — not extreme politicians like my opponent, Derrick Van Orden. Van Orden has never come clean about his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and wants to strip reproductive freedom from the women of Wisconsin and beyond.
We can remove him — in fact, folks are calling our race one of the key seats Democrats need to flip the House. But unlike Van Orden's, this campaign is powered by individual donors, so I'm relying on folks like you to push us over the top this time around.
Thank you for being a part of this movement.
Rebecca Cooke
