Rebecca Cooke won the Aug. 11 Democratic primary and now faces Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in a rematch of the 2024 race for Congress in Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, one of the most competitive races in the country.
Cooke emphasizes her dairy farm, restaurant, small business working-class roots in Wisconsin, but her résumé documents years of professional involvement in Democratic campaign politics. and a well-documented connection to the advocacy group Opportunity Wisconsin.
Cooke’s campaign has previously described her involvement with the group as limited. In 2024, after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on an Opportunity Wisconsin job posting seeking an Eau Claire regional lead to target Van Orden, Cooke’s campaign said she joined the organization in 2020 “with the sole purpose of defeating then-President Donald Trump.”
The campaign said she filmed a video at her shop, participated in roundtable discussions, then left the board in March 2021 and claims she has not had contact with the organization after announcing her congressional campaign.
However, Cooke’s federal financial disclosure, signed Feb. 10, 2022, lists the position as “Steering Committee Member — Opportunity Wisconsin.” This is her own federal disclosure, not the Van Orden campaign, so how exactly was her involvement limited?
The record does not establish how frequently Cooke participated, what decisions she made or precisely when her involvement ended. However, it is a documented formal role with a group that overlaps with various politically involved entities.
The Political Resume
Beginning in late 2012, she worked as a finance director on Democratic House races in Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado and California, including fundraising for California Rep. Raul Ruiz.
In 2015, she registered her political firm Cooke Strategy LLC. Federal Election Commission records reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel show that the firm advised multiple political campaigns between 2015 and 2021 and that Cooke and the firm received more than $190,000 from political committees.
Rebecca Cooke was personally paid an additional $30,000 during her political work at the Third Way think tank over the course of 2025, where she spent about half the year working part-time as a fellow.
Sixteen Thirty Fund — a major donor to the Third Way think tank — also supplied essentially all of North Fund’s reported revenue in 2019 and has long standing ties to Opportunity Wisconsin. The most direct link to these organizations is Rebecca Cooke.
Cooke’s previous political experience is extensive (~14 years) and outpaces her small business owner background (7 years). It is nebulous at best to say she resembles the average voter in this district where the median household income is roughly $73,000. The campaign is portraying Cooke as “one of us” who will fight off the political machine for the little guy.
The advocacy group Opportunity Wisconsin backing Cooke uses the same playbook — the group has Wisconsin residents and business owners participating in its day-to-day activities while simultaneously operating as a part of a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. and whose financial and organizational relationships extend well beyond Wisconsin.
Voters are not getting a complete picture of her background — and this is where George Soros comes into play.
This is Part 2 of a three-part series examining Opportunity Wisconsin, North Fund, Rebecca Cooke and the financial and organizational relationships surrounding the group.
