HAGER CITY, Wis. – A Trump supporter to the very end of his presidency, Derrick Van Orden, R-Hager City, declared his candidacy for Congress from the western Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District. The seat has been held 13 terms by Democrat Ron Kind of LaCrosse. Kind, 58, hasn’t announced whether he’ll run again although he’s widely expected to. Van Orden challenged Kind in 2020. Kind won 51% to 49% — a margin of only 11,000 votes. Van Orden, 50, a former Navy SEAL, has been encouraged by the Republican National Congressional Committee, to try again. Sure to be an issue is that Van Orden was in Washington for Trump’s rally on January 6, the day of the siege of the Capitol, although Van Orden says he turned back and did not participate in the ransacking. About his new campaign, Van Oden said that Wisconsinites are not being represented by Ron Kind and socialist policies.
Van Orden. “I’m not a politician. I am a statesman,” he says. No MAGA hat for his formal campaign portrait.