Leftist fundraiser turned congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke was confronted on camera and asked why she called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “disgusting.”
Cooke’s opponent in the 3rd congressional race, former Navy SEAL Chief Derrick Van Orden, said in a press release that Cooke fled the questions on illegal immigration and ICE.
🚨YIKES: Democrat Rebecca Cooke FLEES THE SCENE when confronted about calling ICE ‘Disgusting!’
“Do you support the deportation of illegal immigrants that r*pe and murder U.S. citizens?”
“Why did you call ICE disgusting?”
“Do you support the abolishment of ICE?”
These… pic.twitter.com/NBPokZGoTc
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 5, 2026
“In her rush to escape, she abandoned her car entirely, leaving the trunk wide open – a chaotic scene that perfectly mirrors her inability to defend her own words. Cooke apparently has no problem smearing federal law enforcement, but the moment she’s held accountable, she runs,” Van Orden’s campaign said in a statement.
What did Rebecca Cooke say?
“I feel like the way that the Trump administration has been using ICE around our communities is disgusting and wrong,” Cooke said, in a video shared by the NRCC.
Wisconsin Democrat Rebecca Cooke says she thinks ICE law enforcement removing violent criminal illegals is “disgusting and wrong”
What’s disgusting is @RebeccaforWI putting criminal illegals before law-abiding Americans! pic.twitter.com/c8xkf36Ica
— NRCC (@NRCC) September 29, 2025
The Van Orden press release said “the questions were simple,” listing them as:
Do you support deporting illegal immigrants who rape and murder U.S. citizens?
Why did you call ICE “disgusting”?
Do you support abolishing ICE?
No answer from Rebecca Cooke.
Cooke worked as a paid political operative and fundraiser for Democrats throughout the country but has tried to repackage herself as a waitress and outsider with a broken-down car.
Her previous Democrat opponent Katrina Shankland, whom she defeated in an earlier Democratic primary, accused Cooke of lying about her background “as a political fundraiser.”
Shankland’s website contained a list of what she calls “outright lies” by Cooke.
In the past, Shankland issued a press release that says Rebecca Cooke was “caught lying about her background as a political fundraiser, backs out of debate, and begs for dark money help against Shankland.”
“Cooke has fashioned herself as ‘just a waitress,’ a ‘small business owner,’ and a ‘nonprofit leader,’ but turns out that she has primarily spent her career as a political fundraiser—raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Shankland wrote.
