Rebecca Cooke

Cooke was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (December 21, 1987, per Wikipedia), and grew up on a dairy farm (Prairie Belle Holsteins), showing cattle at county fairs through 4-H, according to her Ballotpedia survey response. Wikipedia describes her as the youngest of three children in a dairy farming family.[1][2] She began waitressing at 16 while attending North High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of St. Thomas. She says she worked her way through college with Pell Grants, scholarships, financial aid and multiple jobs.[1][2]

From 2012 to 2014 Cooke was finance director for four congressional campaigns in four states, according to Wikipedia, and from 2015 to 2021 her consulting firm advised eight political campaigns.[2] She returned to Eau Claire in 2014 and opened a home goods store, Red's Mercantile, which closed in 2022. In 2016 she founded a nonprofit that provides start-up capital to women-owned small businesses; KSTP describes it as providing start-up capital to small businesses.[2][3][1] Gov. Tony Evers appointed her in 2019 to the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, where she co-chaired the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Committee and later served as secretary. She resigned in November 2021.[1][2][3]

Cooke ran for Wisconsin's 3rd District in 2022, finishing second to Brad Pfaff in the Democratic primary. In 2024 she won the Democratic nomination and lost the general election to Rep. Derrick Van Orden, 48.6% to 51.3%.[2][6] She won the August 11, 2026 Democratic primary over Emily Berge, 60.0% to 39.9%, and has continued working as a waitress during her campaign, according to KSTP.[1][3] Her campaign focused on health care access and affordability, an economy built for working families, and reproductive health care.[1][3] She won the November 3, 2026 general election with 52.4% of the vote to Derrick Van Orden's 45.8%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[4]