Frederica Freyberg:

Looking ahead to next year’s elections, the open seat in the 3rd congressional district in western Wisconsin is expected to be a nail-biter. It’s a district that incumbent and retiring Democratic Congressman Ron Kind narrowly won and Donald Trump also won in 2020. The field is filling up for Democrats looking to replace Kind. Last month we interviewed State Senator Brad Pfaff. Tonight we hear from Democratic candidate Rebecca Cooke. Cooke is a board member of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the state economic development agency. Governor Tony Evers appointed Cooke to that position in 2019. She also owns a home goods store in Eau Claire and founded a nonprofit grant program for women entrepreneurs in western Wisconsin. Rebecca Cooke joins us now from Eau Claire. Thanks very much for being here.

Rebecca Cooke:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So why do you want to represent the people of the 3rd in Washington?

Rebecca Cooke:

Yeah. You know, I’m a doer. I’ve proven that time and again at the grassroots level in my hometown through supporting women entrepreneurs and at the state level advocating for those same folks I met across the kitchen table and the boardroom. I really feel career politicians have left us behind. Washington can’t solve everything. I think we here in west central Wisconsin really have the grit and the muscle, the smarts and the common sense to solve a lot of these challenges. I’ll take a lot of those values I learned growing up on a dairy farm here in the region not to give up when times are tough and really to show up and listen and fight for our values in the halls of Congress.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you’ve just touched on this, but you will have to find your seat at the table as a political newcomer.

Rebecca Cooke:

Right.

Frederica Freyberg:

This strikes you as a positive?

Rebecca Cooke:

Yeah. I think that, you know, we’re due for fresh leadership and I think fresh faces. I might be new to running for political office, but I’m not new to serving my community. I’ve been doing that in the work that I’ve been doing at the grassroots economic development level for a number of years. And so I think — I think that we’re tired of kind of the same old career politician establishment politics that we’ve seen and want to see a Congress that’s more reflective of everyday America and of everyday folks stepping off the sideline to serve their community.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are the most important issues you’d like to address in your district?

Rebecca Cooke:

Sure. You know, this campaign is going to be run on a lot of kitchen table issues. Things that everyday Wisconsinites care about, having access to affordable quality health care, ensuring our students – no matter the school district that they’re living in – have access to the resources in the classroom they need to thrive. We talked about this a little bit earlier. Broadband, having connectivity to marketplaces and from a telehealth perspective and so our students aren’t doing their homework in a McDonald’s parking lot. I think we need to treat broadband like rural electrification and get it done. There’s a lot of promise in the infrastructure bill to be able to do something like that. I think the other piece is job creation and having — building a sustainable economy here within the district and having employers that really want to invest in the quality of life of workers here.

Frederica Freyberg:

The announced and Trump-endorsed Republican in this race came very close to beating the incumbent in the last election. What kind of headwinds does that represent for you in a district trending right?

Rebecca Cooke:

Sure, I think — what we need to do is really bring it back home as far as connecting with folks in rural communities. I think you saw more folks coming out for Trump because Trump was showing up in those communities. I think as Democrats we need to be connecting with folks not just when it’s an election year or when it’s convenient, but showing up and advocating for rural communities all the time. I think it’s a district that’s started to skew more right and I think we need to bring it back to values that we all care about and are central to the way we live our everyday lives here in Wisconsin. So I think running a campaign that’s very value-centric in a big tent that opens everybody from both sides of the aisle under it is what I intend to do.

Frederica Freyberg:

As you know, the president just signed the infrastructure bill and now the social spending part of the Biden agenda is making its way through Congress. What is your level of support for these trillions of dollars of spending?

Rebecca Cooke:

You know, I’m supportive of anything that, you know, helps working families in our region out, you know, from Medicare expansion to paid leave, easing the burden of child care and pre-k for our young people. I’m an advocate for anything that eases the burden of what the last couple of years have been like for working families in our region.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Rebecca Cooke, we leave it there. Thanks very much. Thanks for your time.

Rebecca Cooke:

Yeah. Thank you.