Eau Claire-based small business owner Rebecca Cooke announced Monday she’ll be running to unseat Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. 

The run will be her second attempt at the seat after finishing second in the Democratic primary last year. The 3rd District is the most closely contested in Wisconsin, with Van Orden serving his first term in the seat formerly  held for 26 years by Democrat Ron Kind. 

Cooke announced her bid for the seat to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, saying she believes voters can get behind her message. 

“I’m really focused on running a race that people can get behind and that I think really can clear the field,” Cooke told the Journal Sentinel. “Rural voters are interested, I think, in the perspective that I bring. I want to represent those folks and really work for them to move the needle and make a difference in the lives of everyday people.”

Cooke is the first Democrat to jump into the race. Last year, she finished 8 points behind state Sen. Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) in a four-way primary. Van Orden defeated Pfaff by about 4 points in the race for the seat left vacant by Kind’s retirement. Following Pfaff’s defeat, Wisconsin Democrats blamed the party’s national campaign arm for abandoning a winnable race in a close district. 

Covering the Driftless Area in Southwestern and Western Wisconsin, the district includes rural areas as well as the cities of La Crosse, Eau Claire and Stevens Point and suburban bedroom communities near Minneapolis. Two years ago, Cooke told the Examiner she was running because she has experienced how the government can fail rural people. 

“I think I bring a fresh perspective to the race,” she said in an interview at the start of her last campaign. “I grew up on a dairy farm and know what it’s like to have to sell your cows because of the price of milk. I run my own small business. I understand the challenges of how you make ends meet, how to keep things going when shops are opening and closing. I’ve been in the trenches, I’ve experienced failed policy and want to be a changemaker in DC.” 

Cooke is the first Democrat to jump into the race, but Pfaff and Deb McGrath — another candidate in last year’s primary — as well as Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Missy Hughes, have been reported to be considering running for the seat.