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Opportunity Wisconsin Goes After Van Orden's Seat
The attention, and the money, continues to pour into western Wisconsin’s race for Congress.
The liberal group Opportunity Wisconsin on Tuesday announced a seven-figure ad buy to try and unseat Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden.
“[The] TV and digital ads to hold Congressman Derrick Van Orden accountable for sending health care costs through the roof for families in his district. Van Orden refused to support an extension of health care tax credits, forcing his constituents to pay thousands more beginning this month,” the group said in a statement.
Van Orden, like all members of Congress, did not get the chance to vote on extending the Biden-era Obamacare subsidies because Republican leaders blocked the proposal back in December.
Van Orden did, on Monday, celebrate $200 million for rural hospitals across the county that was part of the Big Beautiful Law that he did vote for.
“Did they mention that every single Democrat in the House and Senate voted AGAINST this?” Van Orden wrote on X in response to a headline on the plan.
Van Orden is one of the most vulnerable Republicans on Capitol Hill, and is the Democrats’ top target in Wisconsin in 2026.
Van Orden has won the past two elections in the state’s Third Congressional District. He won both by about 12,000 votes. Democrats hope to pick him off in November.
Currently, Van Orden has two major Democratic opponents: Rebecca Cooke, who ran against him in 2024, and Emily Berge, who is the city council president in Eau Claire.
Van Orden is also the top target for redistricting in the state. A pair of liberal groups have asked Wisconsin’s liberal-majority Supreme Court to redraw his district to make it more favorable to Democrats. Many in the state expect it to happen, but it’s looking unlikely that it will happen in time for the November election.
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