MADISON – Rebecca Cooke, the Democratic candidate in Wisconsin’s competitive 3rd Congressional District, is showing thousands of dollars in earnings through rental property, waitressing and several political fellowships over the last year and a half.
According to her financial disclosure with the U.S. House of Representatives, filed on August 13, Cooke earned more than $90,000 between January 2025 and July 14 of this year. The disclosure came days after the primary, after Cooke filed for an extension.
She earned $60,000 through her employment with Small Business Advisors LLC, $1,618 waitressing at the Kingfisher restaurant, and nearly $30,000 waitressing at another Eau Claire area restaurant, The Good Wives.
She also lists a rental property, which brought in between $5,001 and $15,000, and fellowships at the Washington, D.C.-based Third Way and Madison-based The Pipeline Fund.
The disclosure only lists that the fellowships paid more than $5,000. She earned $30,000 from Third Way, according to previous reporting. The Pipeline Fund declined to share exactly how much the fellowship with the organization paid for her work.
Cooke says disclosure backs her working-class status
“We can confirm Rebecca Cooke worked as a contractor for The Pipeline Fund in 2025 to help advance our mission of building a reflective democracy where working-class people, women, people of color, and other underrepresented communities are fully supported to run for office and advance the needs of their communities,” the organization said in an emailed statement.
In an emailed statement, Cooke said her disclosure is proof of her working-class status.
“I’ve always worn multiple hats to make ends meet and in addition to waitressing I worked on two projects related to getting more working class people to run for office and conducted research for an organization about how to better connect with working class voters,” she said.
“There are unique challenges to running for office as a working class person with an hourly wage job and a full-time campaign schedule. For example, I’m one of the thousands of people in this district who can’t afford health insurance. I’ve been proud to help make it easier for the next generation of working class leaders to step up and take our fight to Washington D.C.”
Cooke did not respond to requests for an interview about her disclosure, which shows her personal income, and is not related to her campaign’s finances.
Cooke earlier sought extension on filing disclosure
Cooke sought an extension from the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives in April, meaning she did not have to turn in her financial disclosure until Aug. 13, two days after the primary election. The report was initially due in May.
Cooke topped Democrat Emily Berge by about 20 points in the primary to advance to the general election, setting up a rematch against incumbent Republican Derrick Van Orden.
Cooke’s campaign argued that voters should be able to turn to previous years of filings to see how she makes her money, and that it’s not unusual for candidates to seek and get permission for an extension.
According to the Committee on Ethics website, each candidate much submit a financial disclosure showing their assets and their income sources from the previous year up to a date within 30 days of filing the report. A report must be submitted 30 days before the election for all candidates who have raised or spent more than $5,000 as a candidate for election to the House of Representatives.
Cooke also sought a similar extension in the 2024 race, and ultimately submitted the report on Aug. 14, 2024, along with several amendments.
Previously, she filed an amendment in January to a previous report, covering all of 2024 up to April 2025, showing two rental properties, land she owns and income from a restaurant in addition to her non-profit the Red Letter Grant, a fellowship and a business advisory position.
Cook’s work history has included founding a non-profit to support women small-business owners and waitresses. She has also has worked with political organizations like center-left think tank Third Way, and ran a political consulting company.
Through her work at Third Way, she was paid about $30,000, and as far back as 2012, she fundraised for congressional candidates in Michigan, Colorado and California, raising $3.7 million in one contest alone.
In 2015, she registered Cooke Strategy LLC, a Democratic political and fundraising consulting firm. FEC records show the firm advised eight state and federal campaigns between 2015 and 2021.
Republicans have argued that the fundraising and fellowship work Cooke has done makes her a political insider, with Van Orden consistently using social media to critique her past involvement in campaigns and with political organizations.
Derrick Van Orden filed earlier financial disclosure
Van Orden most recently filed a disclosure as a member of the House on June 12, showing his earnings from 2025.
His disclosure shows life insurance policies and bank accounts, as well as the mortgage on his home. It does not show his income as a member of Congress, which is about $174,000 a year. He is a retired Navy SEAL.
In a statement, Van Orden slammed Cooke for not releasing her financial disclosures before the primary.
“For months, Democrats and Republicans across the Third District called on Cooke to release her financial disclosures. She had every opportunity to be transparent with voters. Instead, she chose to keep them hidden until after the primary,” Van Orden said in a news release.
“That tells Wisconsin voters everything they need to know about Rebecca Cooke’s character. She was willing to deceive her own party to protect the political persona she built and gain political power. Wisconsin voters should be asking what else she’ll hide if given the power to represent them.”
Cooke and Van Orden will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot in the 3rd District, which covers a large portion of the western part of the state. Van Orden is seeking his third term, and Cooke is running for the third time in the district. In 2022, she lost in the primary. In 2024, she narrowly lost to Van Orden.
National Democrats see the 3rd District as a prime candidate to flip this fall in the party’s efforts to retake a House majority, and organizations like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are directing funds and other resources into the race in order to boost Cooke.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Delayed report details congressional candidate Cooke’s personal income
Reporting by Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
