Zac Schultz:
President Biden’s visit to Westby comes as more eyes are drawn to western Wisconsin and its Congressional race. Republican Derrick Van Orden won the open seat in a tight race in 2022. But as Election Day gets closer and outside spending continues to grow, Nathan Denzin reports experts predict this year’s race will be even tighter.

Nathan Denzin:
Nobody is taking the 3rd Congressional District for granted in 2024.

Anthony Chergosky:
This is a very competitive district.

Rebecca Cooke:
The road to the White House runs through Wisconsin.

Derrick Van Orden:
Am I going to campaign for myself? Absolutely. Other local candidates? Absolutely.

Nathan Denzin:
The 3rd, which encompasses most of western and parts of central Wisconsin, is the most purple district in a purple state. Every vote is up for grabs. Republican Derrick Van Orden is the incumbent after winning the open seat in 2022. He declined multiple requests to be interviewed, both in person and virtually for this story, but spoke to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter at the RNC in July.

Derrick Van Orden:
If people look at my record and they understand how many hours we put in to craft very solid, very solid legislation to help out the 3rd, then they should be voting for me.

Nathan Denzin:
His supporters point to committee appointments, especially to the House Committee on Agriculture, as proof he’s working for residents in the 3rd.

Derrick Van Orden:
I’ve worked, I don’t know how many hundreds, if not thousands of hours getting through a bipartisan Farm Bill that is a remarkable piece of legislation that’s going to help everybody from our smallest farmers all the way to the larger farms.

Anthony Chergosky:
Derrick Van Orden is known as this very polarizing figure.

Nathan Denzin:
Anthony Chergosky is a political scientist at UW-La Crosse. He says the House hasn’t done much overall.

Anthony Chergosky:
Basically, Congress has just been trying to keep the lights on. I mean, that’s — they’ve been really accomplishing the bare minimum.

Nathan Denzin:
Since January 2023, Congress has passed just 43 bills.

Man at podium:
The bill is passed.

Nathan Denzin:
In the previous two sessions, they averaged about 200 bills passed.

Anthony Chergosky:
How much of this campaign is going to be about the legislative record of Derrick Van Orden? We just don’t know.

Nathan Denzin:
Since his inauguration, four bills with Van Orden as a sponsor or co-sponsor have been passed by the House. Three are related to the Armed Services, and one clarifies that federal funds can be used to buy archery or shooting sports equipment in schools. Committees Van Orden is a member of have also passed legislation. The largest is a 2024 Farm Bill that has drawn bipartisan praise but has still not yet been signed into law as legislators haggle over details.

Derrick Van Orden:
So when people say I’m not helping our our smaller farmers or farmers at all, that’s another lie and I just don’t appreciate it.

Nathan Denzin:
But if you ask a Democrat, Van Orden is a fringe MAGA politician.

Rebecca Cooke:
Derrick Van Orden is a lot of talk and no walk. You know, he’s continued to, I think, push radicalism and his temperament, I think it’s all about partisan, partisan game playing.

Nathan Denzin:
Rebecca Cooke is the Democratic nominee for the 3rd Congressional seat.

Rebecca Cooke:
I think he’s really proven time and time again by his outbursts, I mean, and it’s kind of like a laundry list at this point.

Nathan Denzin:
Outside of his legislative record, controversy has followed Van Orden since his first run in 2020. He attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6th, brought a loaded handgun through TSA, yelled at a teenage librarian over an LGBTQ+ book display, yelled at a group of teenage Senate pages in the U.S. Capitol for taking pictures, shouted over President Biden’s State of the Union address and got into a heated altercation with a protester outside of the RNC.

Rebecca Cooke:
People are just plain embarrassed, I think, by the actions that he takes.

Derrick Van Orden:
I would love them to actually look at my voting record and not listen to the noise that’s been put out.

Nathan Denzin:
Van Orden’s voting and sponsorship record shows he’s the most moderate member of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation.

Derrick Van Orden:
You guys don’t understand how many Democrat friends I have in Washington, D.C. The press won’t report it, but Dems aren’t convinced.

Rebecca Cooke:
I can promise you that when push comes to shove, a lot of the radical things that he’s talking about consistently on social media, consistently in the press, are going to be where he’s going.

Nathan Denzin:
Cooke says that if she were elected, things would be different.

Rebecca Cooke:
I think what really sets me apart are my lived experiences.

Nathan Denzin:
Experiences like growing up on a family farm in Eau Claire, running a small business, and waitressing three nights a week, even during the campaign.

Rebecca Cooke:
Those types of lived experiences, I think, lend themselves well to being a legislator that really understands what working people are looking for in their representative and what I can deliver on in Congress.

Nathan Denzin:
Cooke says she would like to serve on the House Ag Committee, as Van Orden does, and work on the Farm Bill to make sure it protects small family farms.

Rebecca Cooke:
One of the things that I’m really interested in is “right to repair.” So the right to repair your own stuff. I’d love to see something like that be incorporated into the Farm Bill in the future.

Nathan Denzin:
She also wants to expand access to health care in western Wisconsin, where the number of providers has shrunk since the pandemic.

Rebecca Cooke:
We’ve lost hospital systems. It’s not even health care providers, but we’ve lost, like literal hospitals for people to go to.

Nathan Denzin:
To do that, she says the federal government needs to look at tangible solutions.

Rebecca Cooke:
What Medicare reimbursement rates look like for hospitals in order to be staying open and serving critical populations.

Nathan Denzin:
Cooke says other priorities include codifying Roe v. Wade, taking on corporations who have been price gouging consumers, and securing federal funding for PFAS cleanup. At former President Trump’s rally in La Crosse, Van Orden said he also wants to talk about policy.

Derrick Van Orden:
Here in southwestern Wisconsin, honestly, we want to talk about policy. We want to talk about issues. We really don’t want to talk about personality.

Nathan Denzin:
But Van Orden’s website, where he lays out his top policy priorities, has not been updated since 2021. His positions include ending COVID-19 restrictions on schools, tax cuts and “leading with integrity.” Van Orden’s social media accounts are also light on policy, and PBS Wisconsin could not find a campaign platform or specific policy positions elsewhere. As to how all of this will play out, it’s anyone’s guess.

Anthony Chergosky:
Can Derrick Van Orden continue to emphasize his brand as a political outsider, even though he is now in Congress, and can Rebecca Cooke withstand millions of dollars of negative campaigning?

Nathan Denzin:
Political insiders believe Van Orden still has the inside track, but with money from state and national groups pouring into the race, nothing is certain.

Anthony Chergosky:
Derrick Van Orden is a favorite, but not overwhelmingly so. And a lot can happen between now and November to either solidify Van Orden’s advantage or to undermine his advantage.

Nathan Denzin:
For “Here & Now,” I’m Nathan Denzin in La Crosse.