EAU CAIRE, Wis. — The only Democrat who so far is challenging incumbent Derrick Van Orden for Wisconsin’s WI-3 seat in Congress, Rebecca Cooke,called him an embarrassment. Cooke’s comment came after news that Van Orden, apparently drunk, had verbally abused a group often-age Senate pages. in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. Cooke, an Eau Claire business owner, said: “Derrick Van Orden is an embarrassment who clearly lacks the temperament to represent Wisconsin and our values.” Cooke called the Republican congressman a “hypocrite.” Cooke also called Van Orden a “serial harasser” of teenagers and pointed to a 2021incident in which Van Orden, upset about a display of gay-themed books at the Prairie du Chien public library, yelled at a teen-age library aide: Saud ooke: “We should be encouraging youth engagement in our democratic process, not using vulgar language towards them.”

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