“Van Orden’s longtime Democratic seat in Wisconsin slipped from ‘likely’ Republican to ‘leans’ Republican…putting him just one category away from a true toss up.”
Derrick Van Orden is becoming increasingly vulnerable after Kevin McCarthy, who has given his campaign over $350,000 in just three years, was ousted as speaker.
Van Orden is left without one of his top donors as his many inappropriatepublicoutbursts show Wisconsinites how unfit for office he is and as Cook Political Report shifts his race from Likely to Lean Republican, “just one category away from a true toss up.”
When former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., waged his epic bid to lead the chamber last January, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a McCarthy loyalist, posed a haunting question for the future speaker’s GOP holdouts.
“How much money did they take from McCarthy to get elected over the years?” Van Orden posted on X, formerly called Twitter, on Jan. 5.
The first-term lawmaker’s query now echoes around conservative circles in the wake of McCarthy’s historic ouster as not only the Republicans’ No. 1 leader — but their top fundraiser, as well. Tossing McCarthy overboard has jeopardized the House GOP’s political operation, and Van Orden is one example of a Republican whose reelection is at risk.
Van Orden’s longtime Democratic seat in Wisconsin slipped from “likely” Republican to “leans” Republican by the nonpartisan election forecaster Cook Political Report earlier this month, putting him just one category away from a true toss up.
The freshman lawmaker, a retired Navy SEAL and businessman, has benefitted handsomely from McCarthy’s fundraising operation.
Van Orden has received over $355,000 from McCarthy and his affiliated organizations over the three years that he has run for and held a House seat.
Van Orden, who drew condemnation from Senate leaders — including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., — for reportedly cursing out a group of teenaged Senate pages over the summer, has had a prickly relationship with GOP colleagues who oppose McCarthy. He tore into fellow House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy, taking special aim at the ringleader: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
“You had, and still have no plan to fix what you broke, child,” Van Orden said to Gaetz on X on Oct. 8.
Democrats have targeted Van Orden’s support of Johnson, who embraced the idea that the 2020 election was stolen, and his vulgar outburst at high school Senate pages, in their bid to flip the Wisconsin seat back to blue.
“More and more light is shining on Derrick Van Orden’s extreme record and inappropriate behavior, and Wisconsin voters are taking note,” a DCCC spokesperson said in a statement earlier this month when Van Ordern’s district was downgraded by the Cook Political Report. “As Van Orden continues to embrace an extreme agenda and bully everyone around him, Wisconsinites will be ready to send him packing next November.”
