Reading Time: 8 minutes

For 26 years, Wisconsin’s Driftless Area was represented in Congress by a moderate Democrat. Through multiple presidencies, including President Donald Trump’s first administration, Ron Kind was considered to be one of the most bipartisan House members and was easily reelected.

Now the 3rd Congressional District is one of the biggest battlegrounds in the nation. 

Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden was first elected in 2022 after Kind retired and has held the seat since. He’s now seeking a third term. 

Van Orden has shown a fiery reputation in Congress, faced some controversies and been an ardent Trump supporter. But this will be his first election as an incumbent where the odds aren’t in the GOP’s favor, particularly with Trump’s approval rating polling at a historic low. Despite that, Van Orden has continued to align with the president throughout his reelection campaign. 

Democrats, after losing the House in 2022, are heavily targeting the district. In a rematch, Democrat Rebecca Cooke is challenging Van Orden for the seat after losing by 3 points last election. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has put the 3rd District, along with the 1st in southeastern Wisconsin, on its “Red to Blue” list. The program provides candidates with organizational and fundraising support.

Kind, who has endorsed Cooke, told Wisconsin Watch he believes Van Orden “can’t afford to have any degree of separation” from Trump because the president is a large part of his political success. But in the current political climate, that could also be a liability for the 26-year Navy veteran.

“People are beginning to realize what this guy is all about back home and the fact that he’s not making their lives any easier by supporting the president’s policies,” Kind said.

Kind won some of his last few elections by substantial margins, winning by 13 points in 2014, unopposed in 2016 and almost 20 percentage points in 2018. In 2020, though, Kind defeated Van Orden by less than 3 points. In 2022, national Democrats weren’t targeting the open seat and canceled its ad spending for the district, according to WPR. That year, Van Orden defeated state Sen. Brad Pfaff by just under 4 percentage points.

Democratic polls show Cooke ahead of Van Orden by up to 4 points. A Republican poll in September showed Van Orden leading by 5 points. 

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky said GOP candidates faced a strategic choice with their campaigns this year.

“Are they going to double down on Trumpism in a bid to motivate the president’s supporters, or are they going to try to open up some daylight between them and the president?” Chergosky said. 

Van Orden’s strategy of sticking with Trump, Chergosky said, is likely a move to lean into the president’s heavy supporters to carry him to reelection. He said many voters were highly motivated in 2016, 2020 and 2024 simply because Trump’s name was on the ballot, but those same voters didn’t turn out as much when Trump wasn’t on the ballot. Over 95,000 more votes were cast in the race for the 3rd Congressional District in the 2024 presidential election than in the 2022 midterm.

The district voted for Trump all three times he ran, even when Kind won in 2016 and 2020, so Van Orden’s presidential ties might help bring out those voters again.

“There’s something that’s sorely lacking in this political business and it’s loyalty,” Van Orden told The Associated Press before the GOP midterm convention in August. “I think we’d be a lot better off if we were more loyal to our fellow Americans to begin with.”

Van Orden’s campaign spokesperson did not respond to requests for an interview for this story.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, one of the most liberal members of the Senate who won Wisconsin’s Democratic presidential primary in 2016, joined Cooke at a rally in Eau Claire on Sunday.

“In my view, this is the most important midterm election in the modern history of our country,” Sanders said. “What Rebecca’s race is about and the reason that I am here is that the time is long overdue for us to hold the most dangerous president in the history of the United States accountable.”

He applauded Cooke for her working class background as a waitress and emphasized the importance of that representation in Congress.

Candidates take starkly different positions on issues

Van Orden and Cooke overlap on few issues that have been part of Trump’s first term. Those differences were clear when they met Oct. 20 for their first and only debate and sparred over the economy, immigration, health care and the war in Iran.

Cooke said she would not have supported Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and criticized it for giving “billionaires tax breaks and tax credits.” The tax incentives on average benefited higher earners rather than lower earners, according to the Tax Policy Center. 

“Big corporations and the ultra wealthy should be paying their fair share of taxes,” Cooke said. 

Van Orden touted the act and how its changes led to an influx of revenue for BadgerCare, the state’s form of Medicaid. The act, however, made $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid overall through mandatory work requirements for able-bodied adults and tighter caps on provider taxes.

He also criticized Cooke for not condemning unauthorized immigrants who commit violent crimes. She said they should be deported and the border should be secure. She also said she does not support sanctuary cities, but affirmed that there should be a “clear pathway to citizenship” and acknowledged immigrant contributions to the workforce.

According to an April 2023 study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison School for Workers, unauthorized immigrants alone make up an estimated 46% to 70% of the dairy farmers in the state. Van Orden has emphasized in his campaign his support for Trump’s immigration policies, which have emphasized large-scale deportations and rolling back authorized immigration.

Cooke said one of the first things she would like to see in Congress is ending the war in Iran, which Van Orden has voted against ending. While he said he does not inherently want to be at war, he said it’s the only way “radical Muslim mullahs” will listen.

“I know about war. I spent my entire adult life either training for war, training others for war or a war myself. I do not want our country to be involved in war,” Van Orden said. “We tried diplomacy. We tried sanctions, upped them again and again and again, and these radical muslim mullahs don’t respond to that … they only respond to this horrible thing that is war.”

Van Orden currently sits on the Agriculture, Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs committees. Since his election to Congress, he has introduced and passed veteran-forward legislation, like aiming to help veterans avoid foreclosure. He has also co-sponsored passed laws like providing whole milk in schools, expanding autism and developmental disability programs and allowing for hunting programs in schools.

Cooke, a waitress and former political consultant, wants to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, address teacher shortages with pay increases and signing bonuses, change the school funding formula to give more funding to low-income districts and double Pell college grants for low- to moderate-income families. She also advocates for expanding Medicare to dental, hearing and vision coverage and protecting abortion rights.

One of the few issues that Van Orden and Cooke seem to agree on is supporting agriculture and dairy farms. Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District ranked 17th in the nation in 2022 for most farm producers at 31,470. Both Van Orden and Cooke have promised to support the state’s agriculture system and dairy farms. Cooke wants to ensure tax incentives and subsidies for small farms, expand export markets and fight big agriculture to support small farmers. 

As for data centers, Van Orden wants local communities to decide on new developments and to protect farmland and water resources. He has co-sponsored the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, which would ensure ratepayers aren’t forced to pay new energy bills required by large data centers. Cooke wants a moratorium on new developments and to end the tax breaks given to data centers, but data center laws are largely up to state and local governments.

National polarization and negativity

Similar to their first matchup two years ago, Van Orden and Cooke continue their heated rivalry in the high-stakes election. Van Orden has posted AI-generated fake videos of Cooke on social media, making it seem like she was saying she was the “anointed one” and that voters will “comply” and vote for her. She sent him a cease-and-desist letter in September and boosted a citizen complaint filed Oct. 22 with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission.

Cooke told Wisconsin Watch the district is looking for a “representative that’s rooted in reality” and focused on issues rather than making these deepfakes. She called for more AI regulation for campaigns in the future.

Chergosky said it’s unclear how the AI deepfake issue will play out and what voters think about this new territory.

Van Orden and Cooke also have been trying to undercut each other’s authenticity in their campaigns. Van Orden has slammed Cooke for portraying herself as a political outsider while working as a Democratic fundraiser and political consultant for controversy-courting Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad. She also has worked with the center-left think tank Third Way. 

Van Orden also has found himself in controversies throughout the years, including inflammatory social media posts and his presence in Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. In 2023 he scolded teenage Senate pages and in 2021 accosted a Prairie du Chien library worker over an LGBTQ+ book display.

Cooke blasted how Van Orden has never held an in-person town hall throughout his time in Congress, as well as his support for Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran. 

“His devotion to this administration is greater than his devotion to people in this district,” Cooke said. “I think it’s a mistake on his part, but it’s like a blind loyalty that he has to the president.”

Kind said Van Orden has “insulated” himself from his constituents, and Pfaff told Wisconsin Watch that Van Orden has been at the “beck and call” of the White House and has “never had any original thought.”

“I do not believe he has a vision,” Pfaff said. “I don’t believe, deep down, he has a fundamental understanding of what this district is, who the people are in this district and what it would take in order to work the public, private effort in order to continue to move this area forward.”

Kind was noted for being one of the more bipartisan members of Congress, ranking 17th most bipartisan in the House in his last congressional session, according to The Lugar Center’s bipartisanship index.

Van Orden ranked 138th most bipartisan in his first year in office and the second-most bipartisan House member representing Wisconsin, behind former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher at 33rd. The least bipartisan from Wisconsin was Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is now running for governor, in 379th place.

What’s different this year?

Given the rematch, 2024 and 2026 look very similar. Both years, the district was heavily targeted and categorized a toss-up, but one thing remains largely different: It’s not a “Trump year.”

This is the first year since 2020, when Van Orden lost and Joe Biden narrowly won the state, when he is running in a likely poor year for Republicans. In 2022, Democrats controlled the White House — historically the president’s party has fared worse in midterms. In 2024, Trump narrowly won Wisconsin. Now, with a Republican president, Democrats are favored to flip some seats and take back Congress.

Whichever party comes out of November with control of Congress will “profoundly influence the final two years of Trump’s presidency,” Chergosky said.

“In 2022, it was about Republicans trying to gain control of Congress. In 2024, Republicans were trying to retain control,” Chergosky said, “and now, Democrats are trying to get it back … this could be one of the decisive seats in a high-stakes race for Congress.”

In western Wisconsin, Democrats seek to flip what was once one of the most moderate congressional districts is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil of Janesville easily won his previous elections for Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District. But challenger Mitchell Berman is hoping a Democratic wave could change that.

The post Republicans have held Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District for decades. Could this be the year it flips?  appeared first on WPR.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s midterm travel blitz will continue in the coming days, with Election Day on Nov. 3 now less than two weeks out, headlining rallies in several states hosting hard-fought Senate contests seen as toss-ups.  

Trump began his October campaign road trip in GOP-friendly states, but has begun venturing into territory that’s deemed to have become perilous for Republicans.

The GOP is itching to maintain its narrow majority in the U.S. House and Senate, though elections forecasters are offering a far less optimistic outlook for Republicans, as Democrats remain favored to take back the House and more Senate races shift in the party’s favor. 

Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics on Tuesday moved nearly 30 House races toward Democrats.

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter shifted Senate races in Mississippi and South Carolina toward Democrats on Tuesday. But the elections forecaster also moved a Senate race in Minnesota toward Republicans. 

In the Palmetto State, where South Carolina GOP Sen. Darline Graham faces Democrat Annie Andrews, the Cook Political Report changed its race rating from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.” 

Trump was scheduled to rally in Clemson, South Carolina, on Wednesday for Graham, who was appointed in July to serve out the remainder of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s term. 

Rush to early voting

More than 16 million Americans have already voted early in the midterm elections as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a tracker from the University of Florida Election Lab. 

Meanwhile, Trump continues to see dismal approval ratings amid the costly war in Iran and its impact at the gas pump. According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas stood at $4.26, as of Oct. 21. One year ago, that price stood at about $3.05. 

New polling from The New York Times and CNN offers a snapshot of just how bleak Trump’s approval ratings are with less than two weeks to go until the midterms — hitting record lows in the pair of polls.

In a Times/Siena University national poll, only 36% of likely voters approved of Trump’s performance. Similarly, a CNN/SSRS poll found a 32% approval rating for the president.  

Trump road show

Here’s a closer look at Trump’s travel in the coming days, after recent stops in Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina: 

• The president will head to Sioux City, Iowa, for a rally on Thursday. The Hawkeye State features an open Senate race between Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek that the Cook Political Report has listed as a toss-up.
• Trump will then rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday, where the Sunshine State’s Senate race is described as “solid Republican” by the Cook Political Report. Florida GOP Sen. Ashley Moody faces Democrat Angie Nixon. 
• Trump travels to Perry, Georgia, on Saturday for a rally. The Senate race in Georgia is listed as “likely Democrat” by the Cook Political Report. Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is vying for another term against Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins. 
• The president will then head north to rally Sunday in Port Huron, Michigan. Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are battling it out in an open Senate race the Cook Political Report has dubbed a toss-up. 
• On Monday, Trump will rally in Corinth, Mississippi. In the ruby red state, Mississippi GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is competing for another term against Democrat Scott Colom in a race that the Cook Political Report moved from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.”
• On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Trump is set to hold rallies in both Waco and Lubbock, Texas. The Lone Star State features a pivotal Senate race between Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico that the Cook Political Report declares a toss-up. 
• Trump will then travel to Chillicothe, Ohio, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, for a rally. The Buckeye State is also home to another toss-up Senate race listed by the Cook Political Report between Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted and Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown.  

Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden and Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke held their first and only debate in Eau Claire, Tuesday. It's the first time Van Orden has debated a challenger in nearly six years.

The post Van Orden: Iran war makes 2026 ‘exponentially harder’ for Republicans appeared first on WPR.

Groups funded by Elon Musk have spent around $4.6 million on behalf of Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden during the closing months of his reelection campaign.

The post Groups backed by Elon Musk have spent millions helping Van Orden appeared first on WPR.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

When Mitchell Berman received an email from Elon Musk asking him to justify his job as a front-line emergency room nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs, he began thinking more seriously about how he could make a difference beyond the hospital. 

The email came as the Department of Government Efficiency, commonly referred to as DOGE, began making cuts and hiring freezes in spring 2025. More than a year later, Berman is still working emergency room shifts, but is now campaigning as the Democratic challenger to four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District.

“I kind of realized if we really wanted to help improve things for folks, not even just at the VA, but for people in our communities, it was going to take somebody from the ground floor standing up and fighting for it,” Berman said. 

The southeastern district is emerging as an unexpected battleground as Democrats look to capitalize on a shifting political environment and political newcomer Berman attempts to unseat Steil, who has represented the district since 2019. 

Recent polling from Democratic-aligned organizations shows a close race, leading to increased national attention and campaign spending. Democrats point to dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump’s policies and congressional Republicans’ continued support of them as reasons the traditionally Republican district could be more competitive, while Steil noted he has faced significant Democratic spending in the district before and has continued to win. 

“We’ve seen national Democrats spend millions of dollars in southeast Wisconsin before,” Steil said. “My strategy remains the same: Go speak directly to voters about the issues that are in front of us, and we have ultimately been successful in earning the support of the majority of voters four times in a row in the southern part of the state.”

About 38% of registered Wisconsin voters approve of Trump’s job performance, according to a Sept. 30 Marquette Law School Poll.

An Oct. 3 poll conducted by Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC showed Berman leading Steil 48% to 47% among likely voters. The poll also found 56% of respondents viewed Trump unfavorably. A Sept. 29 poll from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) found the candidates tied at 48%. 

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analyst, recently shifted the district from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.” 

In 2024, a Congressional Leadership Fund poll found Steil leading his challenger Peter Barca, a former member of Congress and Assembly minority leader, by 10 percentage points less than a month ahead of the general election, and Steil went on to win by that much. 

Recent election results, however, show differences in how voters in the district have supported presidential, congressional and Supreme Court candidates. Trump carried the district by 4.5 percentage points in 2024. But liberal Supreme Court candidates have won the district by at least 6 percentage points in elections since 2023. 

Democratic political strategist Joe Zepecki said the national political environment could make the district more competitive than it has been in previous elections. 

“When the political environment is as bad for either party as it is bad for Republicans right now, races that didn’t seem plausible a year ago suddenly get very real,” Zepecki said. 

Zepecki said Steil could have difficulty distancing himself from the administration as voters react to Trump’s actions. 

“The way that Trump’s choices and congressional Republicans’ refusal to do anything about it is really hamstringing candidates like Steil, who otherwise would be viewed as safer than he finds himself today,” Zepecki said. 

Republican political strategist Bill McCoshen, however, said Democrats appear to be “potentially overreacting” to what he said appears to be a favorable national environment for their party. He said he was surprised Democrats are targeting the district. 

“Will that national environment still be there in three or four weeks? We don’t know. So I guess as they’re trying to put more seats in play right now, and then they’ll narrow it down to the ones they think they have the best shot at in the final two weeks,” McCoshen said. 

Who has the advantage?

Steil in 2026 benefits from advantages in name recognition and financial resources compared to his opponent, McCoshen noted. 

A campaign finance report from Oct. 15 showed Steil with more than $4.2 million in his campaign chest, compared with about $338,000 for Berman. 

But Berman’s campaign has received additional support from national Democrats. In September, Berman was added to the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” program, which provides selected Democratic candidates with additional fundraising and organizational support.

Barca was also added to the program during his 2024 campaign. He said the designation helped raise national money because people want to invest in candidates they believe can win. 

He said the political environment changed significantly since he ran. 

“The whole focus (in 2024) was putting Biden and Harris on the defensive and because even though things were improving, people didn’t really sense that big of an improvement,” Barca said. “And now though, I mean, it hasn’t been this bad since I think the recession of ’08. So as a consequence, I think it’s a completely different environment than it was.”

Outside groups have also started pouring money into the race, bringing more national attention to the district.

The House Majority PAC has a $2.7 million ad buy planned for this district, according to AdImpact. Steil has still outpaced Berman in overall advertising spending, with about $5.9 million compared with more than $3 million for Berman, WisPolitics reported. The DCCC also made a joint ad buy of more than $270,000 for the Berman campaign. 

Republican-aligned groups are also pouring money into the race. The No Going Back Pac, backed by Trump, spent over $400,000 on Steil along with crypto-backed Super PAC Wisconsin Working PAC spending over $500,000.

But Barca said spending may not be enough to overcome a broader political shift if voters remain displeased with the policies supported by Steil and other congressional Republicans. 

“This is one of those potentially wave years where money can’t save you,” Barca said. “When you’ve got people hopping mad, and especially given they can connect the dots and tie what’s going on directly to policies that Steil has supported, I think that hurts dramatically.”

Candidates make their case to voters at home

While the political environment and campaign spending have drawn national attention to the race, both candidates are focused on emphasizing their message to voters in the district through their policy priorities and differing visions.

Berman, a political newcomer with more than two decades of experience in health care, is positioning himself as an outsider who can relate to working-class voters. 

“I’m the true definition of a working-class candidate. I’m still working shifts in the emergency room as we run the campaign because I have a mortgage to pay,” Berman said. “Unlike Brian Steil, who sort of left for D.C. and kind of forgotten where he comes from, this is my home, and I’m invested in seeing our community do better.”

Berman said his experience in health care has shaped both his campaign and his decision to enter politics. Zepecki said this background could give him an advantage in a race where health care costs are a major concern for voters.

 “I think he is exactly the kind of candidate you want at a time when health care costs are among the most severe pain points that families are dealing with,” Zepecki said.

Berman has called for lowering health care costs, restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies and reversing Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He is also campaigning to raise the minimum wage, protect reproductive rights and provide more funding for environmental protection. 

He criticized Steil’s support for Trump’s tariffs and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying Steil’s support for policies like these have made life more difficult for Wisconsin residents. 

Steil has emphasized securing the border, protecting older adults, supporting law enforcement and that he is “a strong supporter of life,” which signals support for the anti-abortion movement without mentioning the hot-button issue. He also highlighted legislation he supported, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reduced taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security and increased the standard deduction. 

Both candidates emphasized affordability as the top issue for voters in the district, but disagree about the route to addressing it. 

Steil said Berman’s policy proposals would put more of a financial burden on taxpayers while Berman said Steil has failed to deliver on promises to lower costs.

“Brian Steil has made a lot of promises to folks here in this district,” Berman said. “He’s been running cycle after cycle on lowering costs, making health care affordable, protecting Social Security, and he, in fact, has not done any of those things.”

Steil pointed to his support for legislation that’s helped lower costs, such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and legislation to produce more domestic oil and gas to lower household energy and living costs for Americans. 

“There’s more work to be done, and I think what you see is a contrast in policies between the radical left at the national stage, supported by my opponent, that would make life more expensive for families here in Wisconsin versus our policies to lower the costs for hardworking families,” Steil said. 

The candidates do share some common ground. Both have emphasized supporting veterans, with Berman drawing on more than a decade of experience working at the VA. Both have also emphasized protecting Social Security.  

Steil, having won four previous times, said the district has always been competitive and that his strategy remains the same as it has been even with continued efforts by Democrats.

“It’s a swing area of the state, a swing area of the country, which is why my focus is always on the grassroots and on direct voter outreach,” Steil said.

As Republicans face a mounting Democratic wave election, Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District becomes a battleground is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Democrats running for Wisconsin's 1st and 3rd congressional districts have outraised Republican incumbents Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil according to the latest federal campaign finance reports.

The post Democrats outraise GOP incumbents in Wisconsin’s 3rd and 1st US House Districts appeared first on WPR.

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The post Republican incumbent Tony Wied faces Democrat Rick Crosson in northeast Wisconsin Congressional race appeared first on WPR.

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WASHINGTON — The number of women in the U.S. Senate is unlikely to increase and may decline following the November midterm elections, though there are still opportunities for candidates to make history in the upper chamber.

Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics, said on a call with reporters Tuesday that Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Mary Peltola in Alaska, both Democrats, would become the first Native American women in the Senate if they’re elected. 

“And if Juliana Stratton wins in Illinois, a record three Black women will serve concurrently in the U.S. Senate for the first time in U.S. history,” Dittmar said. “Only five Black women have ever served in the U.S. Senate. So the three women who would be serving in the 120th Senate would represent 50%, or half, of all Black women who’ve ever served.”

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates the Illinois race as solidly Democratic, the Minnesota election as likely Democratic and Alaska as a toss-up.

When it comes to overall representation, voters would need to elect six new women to replace outgoing female senators and keep the number of women in that chamber level during the next Congress, which is set to begin in January. 

“At present, four women non-incumbents are favored to win in November, and two more non-incumbent women are in competitive contests,” Dittmar said. “In addition, one incumbent woman senator, Susan Collins in Maine, is currently deemed as vulnerable in her bid for re-election.”

That means there would need to be some unexpected victories for women Senate candidates in order to actually increase representation in that chamber, likely leaving the percentage of women senators flat or in decline. 

Any path possible in House

The House of Representatives, where 125 of the 435 seats are held by women, is in a somewhat different position.

There will be at least 271 women on the ballot for House seats, giving voters the opportunity to surpass the previous record of 127 women in that chamber at one time.  

“Net gains, loss, or stasis all remain possible outcomes for women’s U.S. House representation from 2026 to 2027,” Dittmar said. “And these are all possible outcomes as well when you look by party for Democratic women or Republican women specifically.”

Democratic women hold a record of 95 seats, while Republican women have previously maxed out their representation at 34.

No parity in either party

CAWP, part of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at New Jersey’s Rutgers University, aims to be a “leading source” of research and data on women in politics.

Chelsea Hill, the group’s director of data, said there were a record 590 women running for a seat in Congress at the start of this year’s campaign cycle, though that number decreased as voters decided which candidates they wanted in this fall’s general election. 

“It’s important to note, even with these candidacy records, women continue to be significantly underrepresented as a percentage of all U.S. House and U.S. Senate candidates,” Hill said. 

And while Democratic women are represented in higher numbers in their party than Republican women, neither has reached gender parity, she said. 

In total there are 198 Democratic and 73 Republican women candidates on ballots this fall, which Hill said is an increase from the last election cycle but “short of the record high of 298 women nominees for the U.S. House set in 2020.”

“When broken down by race and ethnicity, only Latinas reached new highs for U.S. House candidacies and nominations this year,” she said. 

“On the Senate side, the number of Native American, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian women nominees for the U.S. Senate, three, is an historic high,” Hill added. “And the number of Black, four, and Latina, two, Senate nominees match existing records. Among women candidates for U.S. Senate, only white women have reached a new high of 45.”

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National Democrats are sending Wisconsin emergency room nurse Mitchell Berman additional resources as he attempts to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil of Janesville.

The post National Democrats add Steil challenger Berman to ‘Red to Blue’ initiative appeared first on WPR.

WASHINGTON — Both chambers of Congress return to Capitol Hill this week for a brief session before heading back to the campaign trail until mid-November. 

The House will be in for one week and the Senate for three, giving Republicans little time to enact any laws or confirm nominees before voters decide whether to give them another two years in power. 

Lawmakers have already agreed to fund the government through Dec. 11, pushing off any need to reach bipartisan agreement on the dozen annual appropriations bills or risk a government shutdown. 

But they haven’t reached compromise on several other measures and are unlikely to do so until at least the lame-duck session, which spans five weeks in November and December. 

Left undone

Congress has so far opted not to approve legislation that could provide tens of billions in additional funding for the Defense Department amid the war in Iran. 

The two chambers haven’t brokered compromise on the different versions of the annual defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. 

There’s no sign of significant progress on the years-delayed farm bill that is supposed to authorize agriculture and food aid programs. 

Republicans had discussed approving a third party-line package through the complex reconciliation process they used to enact their “big, beautiful” law and three years of funding for immigration enforcement. 

But the Senate needs to adopt a budget resolution before that process could begin and that doesn’t appear to be on the horizon this September. 

President Donald Trump’s insistence lawmakers approve nationwide voter registration and identification requirements is also not expected to become law, lacking the votes in the Senate to advance. 

AI stalemate

Lawmakers aren’t expected to make any progress on how to place guardrails on artificial intelligence amid increasingly dire warnings the technology could “kill us all” before the end of the decade.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash” that he wanted tech company executives to work with lawmakers on striking the right balance. 

“We cannot put a moratorium on this because China will overlap us, and that’s the challenge,” he said. “It’s national security balanced with the immediate security of making sure the models are safe.”

Johnson said he and others in Congress understood the possible ramifications of letting AI run as it is now, but added that “the people who are creating these models have to have to ensure that their products are safe.” 

“But we also at the same time have to resist Congress jumping in and imposing some sort of emergency moratorium,” he said. “It’s got to be done right, safely, wisely.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had a different take on AI, writing in a statement released Monday that administration officials should brief senators in a classified setting. 

“The American people deserve better from their government at such a consequential moment. I have long argued that we must keep the U.S. as the global leader in AI innovation and security. But that innovation must be coupled with serious guardrails that earn the trust of the American public,” Schumer said. 

“Warning bells are ringing louder than they ever have – and the Trump administration is looking the other way. Well, if they won’t hold themselves accountable, we will. And if Trump does not act, Congress must.”

Nominees on tap

The Senate does have several pending nominees on its list that it could push through in the coming weeks, including Keith Sonderling for labor secretary, Sean Kaufman for assistant secretary for preparedness and response, and numerous judges. 

How much Congress accomplishes following the midterm elections will likely depend on what those results show. 

Democrats are unlikely to negotiate major policy or spending bills with Republicans if voters give them control of both chambers come January. 

A mixed result, possibly Democrats regaining the House but Republicans keeping control of the Senate, could lead to some deal-making later this year. 

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The post Wisconsin’s congressional delegation split over $5K ‘Trump Dividend’ appeared first on WPR.

GOP Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden was among the first speakers during the Republican National Committee's midterm convention aimed at boosting candidates facing challenging races this year. He touted President Donald Trump's healthcare agenda and said the two of them brought billions in federal funding to Wisconsin hospitals, which Democrats deny.

The post Van Orden focuses on healthcare, Trump at Republican midterm convention in Texas appeared first on WPR.

Tuesday's election saw primaries in seven out of eight Wisconsin congressional districts. Here are the results, along with who the winners will face in November.

The post Wisconsin congressional primaries set stage for November appeared first on WPR.

The Trump-endorsed son-in-law of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will be the Republican candidate in Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District.

The post Duffy son-in-law Michael Alfonso wins bruising GOP primary in 7th Congressional District appeared first on WPR.

Mitchell Berman will attempt to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil in an effort to flip Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. 

The post Democrat Mitchell Berman will face GOP Rep. Bryan Steil in 1st Congressional District appeared first on WPR.