Dem abandons moderate lane to campaign with socialist in Trump district

Democratic congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke is tacking left in her third run for a battleground seat that President Donald Trump has won every time he’s been on the ballot.

Cooke, a twice-failed candidate running to unseat Republican Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden in a rematch contest, will participate in an “intimate” town hall event with independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as part of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour on Aug. 23. Cooke’s decision to embrace the 83 year-old democratic socialist comes after she previously cast herself as a moderate during previous runs for the seat.

Cooke, a former Democratic political strategist, is seeking the Democratic nomination in a purple district that President Donald Trump has carried during three consecutive presidential elections. Van Orden narrowly defeated Cooke by roughly three percentage points last November though the Democrat managed to outperform former Vice President Kamala Harris by nearly 10,000 votes.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest as one of eight GOP-held seats that are “toss-ups” heading into the midterms. Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, which Van Orden has represented since 2023, boasts a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+3 — meaning it voted an average of three points more Republican than the national average over the last two presidential elections.

Trump carried the district by over seven percentage points in 2024.

Despite the moderate leanings of the Trump-won seat she is running in, the former Democratic campaign staffer has embraced Sanders’ and his socialist platform during her third run for the seat.

Sanders endorsed Cooke’s campaign in June, calling the Democratic candidate a potential “ally” and “partner” to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicare if she were elected to the House.

“Rebecca and I share a common goal – bulding [sic] opportunities for the working class,” Sanders wrote in a statement endorsing Cooke. “I believe as my partner in Congress she will do just that.”

“I am a Blue Dog and a New Dem, but I’m also very progressive where it counts,” Cooke told NBC News following the news of Sanders’ June endorsement, referring to two Democratic groups promoting moderate and center-left views.

The pinned post on the Cooke campaign’s Instagram page is a photo of the candidate and Sanders.

Sanders has also endorsed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — who have both come under criticism for their views on Israel.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, blasted Cooke for aligning herself with Sanders and suggested voters would reject her at the ballot box for a third time.

“Three-time certified loser and Bernie-backed Democrat political operative Rebecca Cooke isn’t fooling anyone,” NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon said in a statement. “Wisconsin families deserve a representative who’ll stand up to the socialist fringe, not one who’s busy booking their next speaking slot.”

The Blue Dog PAC, the campaign arm of the Blue Dog Coalition in the House of Representatives working to elect moderate Democrats, is also supporting Cooke’s third run — despite the candidate receiving Sanders’ endorsement. Cooke was the first candidate the group endorsed during the 2026 cycle.

In addition to being the Democratic nominee for the 3rd district in 2024, Cooke also ran for the same seat in 2022, losingin the Democratic primary by eight points.

Spokespersons for Cooke and Van Orden did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment before publication.

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