Rebecca Cooke Bought a Primary

Funny how $8.6 million buys you a “grassroots movement.” Rebecca Cooke just took the Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, and the headlines are already spinning it as some kind of people-powered victory. She beat Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge 57 to 43. The Associated Press called it at 10:21 p.m. with 62% of ballots counted, and the machine exhaled.

Here’s what they’re not putting in the victory press releases. Berge raised $729,000. Cooke raised $8.6 million. That is not a typo. Cooke outspent her opponent by a factor of twelve, and the Washington Examiner still called it “a close primary race.” Close. Twelve-to-one spending and they call it close. Ask yourself who benefits from that framing.

Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

The DCCC, the Blue Dogs, and the entire consultant class lined up behind Cooke early. Nothing says “political outsider” like the full weight of the Washington establishment clearing your path. And here is the part that should make every honest person in Wisconsin ask what game is being played: Bernie Sanders endorsed her too. The same Bernie Sanders who built a career railing against the billionaire class handed his blessing to the candidate with $8.6 million against the candidate with a city council salary and a fraction of the cash. The DSA and Indivisible backed Berge. Bernie backed the money. Let that sit for a second.

Cooke has run three times now. She got knocked out in the 2022 primary. She lost to Republican Derrick Van Orden in 2024 by less than three points. Third time’s the charm, apparently, when you’ve got eight and a half million reasons to keep trying.

U.S. House of Representatives (Public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

And now the financial disclosures. Van Orden’s campaign is already pointing out that Cooke filed for an extension on her financial disclosures, meaning voters went to the polls without seeing her full financial picture. Her spokeswoman, Grace Kim, put it plainly: “Last time, Rebecca Cooke’s financial disclosures raised questions about the fake ‘struggling waitress’ image she sold voters. This time, she’s making sure those disclosures don’t arrive until after election day.” You don’t have to like Van Orden to wonder why someone who campaigns on being a regular working person would delay the one document that lets voters check that claim.

And let’s talk about Van Orden, because the other side of this coin is no prize either. The man is a former Navy SEAL who has spent his time in Congress yelling at a teenage library employee over a Pride display, trying to bring a firearm onto an airplane, screaming at Senate pages in the Capitol rotunda, and heckling the President during the State of the Union. He used campaign funds to attend the January 6 rally. The Cook Political Report rates his seat a toss-up. Trump carried the district by 8 points in 2024, and Van Orden still barely held on against Cooke by less than 3. That is how beatable this guy is, and the Democratic establishment just spent $8.6 million in a primary to make sure the person who gets the shot is the one who owes them.

Tyler Merbler from USA (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons

The little guy in this story is Emily Berge. A city council president with real local support, DSA chapters and Indivisible behind her, and $729,000. She got steamrolled by a machine that decided months ago who the nominee would be. The voters showed up. The money showed up bigger.

Cooke’s nonprofit, Red Letter Grant, which gives money to women-owned small businesses, previously gave $2,000 to the restaurant where she works as a waitress. The NRCC called that “sleazy.” Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. But when the disclosures are delayed until after the vote, you don’t get to find out in time. Funny how that works.