Trump Van Orden Wisconsin: Third-Term Campaign Push
The Trump Van Orden Wisconsin campaign push is underway, with the president traveling to the state to campaign for Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s bid for a third term in one of the country’s tightest House races.
The Wisconsin Examiner reported on Friday that Van Orden, the former Navy SEAL who represents western Wisconsin’s 3rd District, is riding with Trump as the president stumps for his reelection. The visit is part of a broader White House effort to hold a seat that has shifted from a lean-Republican advantage to a straight toss-up in the Cook Political Report’s ratings.
A Rematch in Farm Country
Van Orden is seeking a third term against Democrat Rebecca Cooke, who won the August primary to set up a rematch of their 2024 contest, which Van Orden won 51.4% to 48.6% — a margin of just 11,186 votes. Cooke has outraised the incumbent this cycle and secured a spot in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program for challengers positioned to flip GOP-held seats.
The district is a sprawling stretch of farm country that produces more milk than most states and relies on roughly 17,000 farms to drive its economy. But farmers there are being squeezed by Trump’s tariff policies, rising fuel and fertilizer costs, and trade disruptions tied to the war in Iran — pressures that have made some rural voters restless with the administration Van Orden has spent two years defending.
The White House has responded with an unusual level of intervention. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is making her second appearance alongside Van Orden in less than six weeks, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a press conference inside a machine shed earlier this week. Trump’s visit is being framed around the administration’s support for farmers, with the White House touting lower input costs, new trade markets and expanded rural opportunity zones.
An Embrace-the-President Strategy
Van Orden’s strategy stands out. While some Republicans in tough races are distancing themselves from the White House, the Wisconsin congressman is leaning all the way in — a gamble that banks on turning out pro-Trump voters in November rather than appealing to the middle. Trump named Van Orden as one of the House Republicans he promised to back “100% all the way to November.”
The risk is visible in the polls. Trump’s approval rating among registered Wisconsin voters has dropped to 38% in Marquette University surveys — an all-time low in that poll’s history — and strategists warn that voters in a state where roughly 60% disapprove of the president could decide the midterm outcome. The district itself has swung with the national mood: it backed Barack Obama twice, flipped Republican in 2022 after longtime Democratic Rep. Ron Kind retired, and went for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Van Orden has brushed off the polling, arguing it undercounts Republicans. He has voted with Trump nearly 100% of the time and has become one of the president’s most visible allies in the House — a loyalty Trump is now repaying in person.
Source: Wisconsin Examiner / Politico