I got a fundraising email from Rebecca Cooke yesterday. I usually don’t pay much attention to these mass emails, but something about this one caught my attention.
It contained this picture.
Cooke explains that as she runs for Congress in southwest Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, she’s also waiting tables at a restaurant. She writes, “The truth is, I grew up in a working-class family and don’t come from a lot of money. Life on the farm wasn’t always easy, and we weren’t strangers to taking on extra work when things got tough and competition with larger dairies got stiff.”
That’s fairly typical fundraising email stuff, but it’s good typical fundraising stuff and the picture really makes it all work.
In fact, it’s reminiscent of a moderate Democratic star (it’s a small constellation). That’s Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington State, who won in a district much like the Third last year. Perez and her husband own an auto body shop and she worked there before she was elected. She had the same kind of regular folks story and the same message about working hard for those who work hard. She also beat a former Green Beret (incumbent Derrick Van Orden was a Navy SEAL) who, like Van Orden, disputed the results of the 2020 election. And Perez emphasized the abortion issue, which will be a plus for Democrats just about everywhere.
Cooke ran last year too, but she didn’t get out of the primary, losing to State Sen. Brad Pfaff, who in turn lost narrowly to Van Orden. Van Orden announced yesterday that his oldest daughter lost her battle with cancer. So, we’ll offer our condolences to him and refrain from criticism today. His record is easily accessed online.
This is a district that was held down by moderate Democrat Ron Kind for a couple of decades. But Kind retired after winning his last term in 2020 by only three points, also over Van Orden. Two years later Van Orden defeated Pfaff by about the same margin. All of which is to say that it could go either way and much will depend on the national trends next year. You have to like Democrats’ chances given what’s happened on the abortion issue here and all over the country.
Pfaff is in an interesting spot. He’s a good candidate with deep farm family roots in the district, just like Cooke. But he’s also served as state Department of Agriculture Secretary (before Republicans fired him) and now as a senator representing a big chunk of the Congressional district. That makes him a valuable property for both state senate Dems and Congressional Democrats. With his seat up next year, his senate colleagues will want him to run for reelection while he may get pressure from DC to try again to beat Van Orden.
Any Democrat running in a rural district is at a disadvantage because the party’s brand is a liability. So, any candidate has to run on their own biography and positions on issues and try to distance themselves as much as possible from the national party. The question may come down to which Democrat in the primary can do that most effectively. Who has a narrative so compelling that it makes voters forget their party? It’s early, but Cooke is getting off to a good start.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 