Conservative Congressional candidates will be on the August 11th partisan primary ballots. In the 3rd Congressional District, which includes most of Wisconsin’s Coulee Region, Congressman Derrick Van Orden is running unopposed in the primary. In the 7th Congressional District, which includes parts of Jackson, Juneau, and Monroe Counties, there is a real “horse race” featuring six candidates. The 7th CD election has probably drawn national interest!

Congressman Derrick Van Orden was the Republican 3rd District nominee in 2020 when he narrowly lost to the long-term incumbent, Congressman Ron Kind. Kind retired at the end of that term and Van Orden won the election in 2022 and was re-elected in 2024. Currently, Van Orden serves on the House Agriculture, House Armed Services, and House Veterans Affairs Committees which together means he serves his constituents’ interests well. He is a retired US Navy Seal with combat experience, and a former author, actor, and small business owner. “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” are emphasized on his campaign webpage.

He represents the interests of his constituents so well that in a recent four month period he hosted four Cabinet Secretaries in the 3rd District: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in March; Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in April; Education Secretary Linda McMahon in May; and Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in June. He had previously hosted other national leaders to include Vice President J.D. Vance last August and the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee prior to that.

Although unopposed, Van Orden has earned your vote in the August 11th partisan primary. He has demonstrated the experience to continue representing his western Wisconsin constituents well! (A big win in the primary is important going forward!)

Of interest, there are two candidates in the Democrat partisan primary on August 11th. One is Rebecca Cooke who lost to Van Orden in 2024 and the other is a civic leader from Eau Claire, Emily Berge. Cooke seemed unimpressive with questionable qualifications in 2024 and a comment was recently made about her “word salad”. Berge showed her lack of historical knowledge with recent comments about the “47 Year War”. Either way, Van Orden needs to continue campaigning with enthusiasm and energy given the amount of misleading information appearing in social media and in the mailbox. And, there will be two Independent candidates on the November ballot.

In the geographically large 7th Congressional District (42% of the state) that includes parts of Jackson, Juneau, and Monroe Counties there are five candidates for Congress on the Republican primary ballot plus one write-in. There appears to be three viable candidates and three really long shot candidates. They are campaigning to replace Congressman Tom Tiffany who is campaigning to become the next Governor of Wisconsin.

Michael Alfonso, at age 26, is the youngest of the group. He claims expertise in the construction and concrete industries; knowledge apparently gained while earning his degree. He has also been a podcast producer and recently (for a short while) claimed his employment as a parish book keeper at his local church. He is better known as the son-in-law of former Congressman and now Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.

Jessi Ebben was a 2022 candidate for Congress from Wisconsin’s 3rd District where she lost to Derrick Van Orden in the Primary. She has since been employed at Ashley Furniture in Arcadia, WI where she is now a Director. This previous campaign experience plus the four years at Ashley Furniture make her a better candidate now than in 2022.

Kevin Hermening was the youngest Marine held hostage in Iran for 444 days some 46 years ago. He is the owner of the Hermening Financial Group and, as the former President of the Mosinee Board of Education, he is the only candidate with elected office experience. He has a Master of Business degree.

Donald Raihala is a real estate broker that has owned or co-owned several businesses in the construction and landscaping trades.

Niina Threlfall-Baum is a small business owner campaigning on traditional Republican values and practical solutions. She has her M.S. degree.

Cheryl Ann Runkel, the write-in candidate, campaigns as “a mother, grandmother, college graduate, that has spent most of her life in Wisconsin”.

Somewhat unique to this group of candidates is that they all have their Bachelor degree and two of the six have a graduate degree. There had been a seventh candidate, Paul Wassgren, but he dropped out very early in the process of commencing a campaign. On the other side, there are three Democrats vying to be the Democrat nominee on the November ballot.

I will vote to re-elect Derrick Van Orden in the 3rd. If I lived in the 7th then Jessi Ebben would get my vote but I might listen to an argument for Kevin Hermening. The other four would get a respectful “Thanks” for being a candidate. Get informed, get involved, share your thoughts, and make sure you vote!