Republican Derrick Van Orden is calling out Democrat Rebecca Cooke for posing as a struggling waitress while financial disclosures show payments from left-leaning groups and ownership of rental properties, raising questions about who she really represents.
Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District has become a spotlight race, and the contrast between the incumbent and his challenger is getting sharper by the week. Derrick Van Orden has publicly challenged Rebecca Cooke’s backstory, arguing her resume and public image don’t match the records. Voters deserve clarity about a candidate’s finances and loyalties.
Cooke has presented herself as a working-class waitress who struggled to afford basic needs, but the disclosure forms tell a different tale. Those forms list multiple rental properties as assets and payments for consulting work, which contradicts the impoverished narrative. That gap between message and paperwork is exactly what opponents are using to question her authenticity.
Van Orden highlighted that Cooke left the region for education and work in other states before returning to claim local roots and working-class struggles. He argues that running as a native Wisconsinite while building a résumé in Minnesota and California undermines her outsider pitch. For voters who prioritize hometown ties, that matters.
https://x.com/RebeccaforWI/status/2094206341296325047
More troubling to Republicans are the payments Cooke reported for work with left-leaning organizations. Her personal financial disclosure shows she received more than $5,000 apiece for work with Third Way and the Pipeline Fund, figures that contradict the image of someone scraping by. Those groups have notable ties to national progressive networks, which change the conversation about who is backing her.
The broader money trail is what makes this a serious issue for conservative voters. Public records indicate the Open Society network has funneled significant grants to related groups — numbers that include $1 million to Third Way’s nonprofit research arm between 2023 and 2024 and $1.4 million to the Pipeline Fund in 2024. When a candidate benefits from entities with those funding patterns, skeptics rightly ask whether local priorities will take a back seat.
A waitress running for Congress in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District was on the payroll of two left-leaning organizations with ties to billionaire investor George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.
Rebecca Cooke has portrayed herself as a working-class outsider, touting her experience as a waitress, small business owner and nonprofit leader raised on a dairy farm.
But a personal financial disclosure released two days after Wisconsin’s Aug. 13 primary shows she received more than $5,000 apiece for work with Third Way and the Pipeline Fund, two left-leaning organizations with financial ties to George Soros’ Open Society network.
The Open Society network awarded $1 million to Third Way’s nonprofit research arm between 2023 and 2024, while the Pipeline Fund received $1.4 million directly from the Open Society Action Fund in 2024.
Through the Open Society Foundation, which serves as the umbrella organization for Soros’ philanthropy network, Soros has distributed tens of millions of dollars to nonprofits and groups championing left-leaning causes like policing reform, LGBTQ rights and drug decriminalization.
Soros has donated more than $32 billion of his personal fortune to the Open Society’s Foundation, which has been overseen by his son Alex Soros since 2022.
There was a small factual correction worth noting: the state primary occurred on August 11, not August 13, and opponents were quick to correct that detail. Still, the timing of the disclosure release and the nature of the payments drew immediate scrutiny. For many voters, the sequence of events raises more questions than answers.
Van Orden has publicly demanded transparency, calling on Cooke to release tax returns and answer tough questions about her relationships with national groups. He has also pointed out the inconsistency between her public plea for empathy as a struggling waitress and the financial signals on paper. Transparency on these points would settle speculation, but Cooke has been slow to comply.
Cooke’s reluctance to debate and to provide full financial context has fueled further suspicion among conservative voters. Republicans argue she is avoiding direct accountability because the records weaken her narrative. In a district that values fiscal common sense and local representation, those perceptions could be decisive.
At stake in this contest is whether voters get a candidate who genuinely reflects their economic experience or someone influenced by outside funding networks. The disclosures and the refusal to be fully open about finances are core issues voters should weigh. This race is about honest representation and which vision for the district will win on Election Day.
