r/eauclaire

Hope this is ok to post, but wanted to alert folks to my indie mockumentary comedy, Canoe Dig It? will be playing at Greenwood Features tomorrow night at 8pm! It’s about the very real sport of Freestyle Canoeing and is very much up the alley of any fan of Best in Show or anything Christopher Guest, but with a lot more painfully dry New England humor. It was entirely shot in Maine and I will be there for a Q&A after the film as well!

Being very much an indie, we don’t really have budget for marketing, so hope getting the word out this way is permissible!

Made using Canva

These positions have not changed since they started running to be governor.

Made using Canva

…and backs it up as a legitimate video in the comments 😂

https://www.facebook.com/reel/26383863114645275/?mibextid=ZZyLBr

These candidates may have said more about healthcare on advertisements or in interviews, but this is straight from their policy proposal sections of their campaign websites.

Made using Canva. For Crowley's, he does have more than this on his website, I just could not fit it all onto this page.

It has been a journey for the last 18 months. I knew this would be an uphill battle and I was committed to running a campaign that was built from the ground up, focused on the people of Wisconsin.

We were up against the National Dem Establishment and millions of dollars. I have to say I wasn't expecting the national dems to be my biggest opponent but I guess that is politics. We were up against almost 7 million dollars spent in this primary plus outside spending. We were up against early national endorsements. We were up against negative text messages from my opponent that spread misinformation about me and my family.

AND YET we still built something amazing. Over 800 people signed up to volunteer, so many new voters got engaged, over 200 events throughout the district. Collected 1400 signatures in 5 days to be first on the ballot. This campaign gave people hope...people told me that all the time. And we need hope to create change.

Thank you to all my volunteers, supporters, voters, people who donated. What we did mattered. The energy we felt was real.

Congratulations to Rebecca Cooke for winning the primary. I am going to take time to be with my family for the next few weeks and maybe longer. My daughter is heading off to college this fall and I look forward to spending time with her. I will also need to figure out how to rebuild my life after this experience. I have a lot to process that I haven't had time to process: finishing up 8 years on council, a pending empty nest for Mike and me, losing one of our cats (Marie), figuring out my counseling practice and I'm sure other things too.

But I will be around Eau Claire and I hope to see you all out and about. I am not giving up on you all. I care too much. I have your back, Wisconsin.

Love you all.

Instead of just skimming through a long paragraph, here are my reasons in a nice list. And then I'll put my experience at the end if anyone is interested.

1. She has years of experience on the Eau Claire city council.

2. Her endorsements come from inside the state of Wisconsin.

3. The vast majority of her donations come from inside the state of Wisconsin.

4. Derrick Van Orden is TERRIFIED of her campaign. He views Becca as a joke, but Emily is a serious threat to him.

5. Emily put out her personal financial information in May, whereas Becca hasn't released hers yet, and requested an extension until after the election takes place. Even DVO has released his statements, and called on Becca to do the same. Here's a link to an Open Secrets article explaining the whole story: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2026/08/rebecca-cookes-money-machine-delayed-disclosure-shape-wisconsins-tightest-house-race

6. Emily has been showing up every single day across the 3rd Congressional District, at hundreds of campaign events, and has not slowed down.

7. Emily is a licensed therapist, and she understands the mental health challenges of people more than anyone else in the race.

8. She will ban conversion therapy at the federal level.

9. She is calling for a moratorium on AI data centers, which harm the environment, tear down communities, and steal jobs from hard working people.

10. She believes in healthcare as a human right, and wants Medicare for everyone.

11. A vote for Emily is a vote against big money in politics

12. Emily is a genuinely wonderful person.

Here's my long paragraph now. I got involved in politics in January of this year. At the time, I knew less than nothing about our local government. I just knew that I had to do something, so I showed up a few weeks in a row for canvassing shifts. Then one night, very soon after I joined up, a dear friend invited me to a Jason Crow event at Carson Park. That night was the first time I had met several local leaders, including Emily. She was so kind, and welcoming to me since I was so new to everybody. Important note about that night, Rebecca was supposed to show up to the meeting to receive a live endorsement from Jason, but she was a no show. Flash forward to a few months later, I had become a bit of a name in my local scene, and I was attending the 3rd CD convention in LaCrosse. It was the first time I'd ever seen Becca in person. Keep in mind, I had seen Emily dozens of times before that day, and our interactions were always very nice. I was excited to hear from Becca just so I could hear the contrast. She gets up behind the podium, looking like she had rolled out of bed 5 minutes ago, and used her 5 minute speech to take down rumors about taking money from PACs. Then she walked away and left without talking to anyone. Emily talked about 90 minutes later, and she was the only candidate that day who received a standing ovation. Cut to the state convention in Madison. Neither Emily or Becca showed up, but Emily at least had events scheduled all weekend which definitely served her best rather than being in a convention hall. For the speeches section, Becca had sent in a pre-recorded video that looked like a typical YouTube ad read. Extremely boring, and there was no reaction from the audience. Emily sent her campaign manager, her only staff member, out to share a personal story about his father's health situation, which was genuinely tearjerking, and received an ovation when he choked up in the middle. Then there were the 3rd CD forums where Becca was asked about conversion therapy, and wished everyone a happy pride month before saying she wouldn't ban it. That takes us to the most recent forum, where I was going to take pictures for Emily. I had come in a suit and tie to remain as professional as possible. I was getting my camera out when Becca walked up to me. This was our conversation verbatim:

Becca: "Well don't you look nice!"

Me: (turns around) "Why thank you!"

Becca: (huge smile on her face) "Hi there, I'm Rebecca Cooke!"

Me: (takes her hand and shakes it) "I'm my name."

Becca: (still smiling) "You're so fancy in that suit! I also see you have a camera with you! Are you with a news organization?"

Me: "Well, actually I'm taking pictures for Emily"

Becca: (her smile immediately turned into a scowl, and she walked away without another word.)

That was my first time meeting her. In that one interaction, I learned everything I needed to know about her. She is someone who doesn't want to be in this primary, because she thinks it's beneath her. She expected this seat to be handed to her, and is mad that she actually needs to work for it. All of her staff members look dejected and depressed wherever they are. At the 3rd CD convention, at the state convention, at the forums, even when dropping off yard signs, they all look tired and depressed. Her staff also has a high turnover rate. I rarely see the same people at two different events. Emily, once again, has one consistent staff member, and more importantly over 600 consistent volunteers who look energized and motivated at every event. There's also enthusiasm among the voters, who are showing their support for Emily in droves. I've seen people with Emily buttons in grocery stores, and I see her signs everywhere. There are 3 houses that I know of with Becca signs (not that signs and buttons win elections, but still).

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. This is the most important election cycle of the century so far. I know you've heard that about every election, but this one is truly important. The results of what happens in November have the potential to shape the next two years for Trump's term, and make sure that his wicked ideology will never take power again. And while we're shaping that on a presidential level, we can stop him in his tracks in congress. We have a one shot opportunity to turn him into the lamest of lame duck presidents we've ever seen. And you know he's scared of that exact outcome, because he's already decided that the elections are being stolen before they've even happened. We need people who are going to be ready to fight back against his rhetoric the moment he begins. And I ask you, who do you think is the person to do that? The person who didn't show up for their own endorsement, who spent her whole speech making excuses for her financial donors, who walked away like a child as soon as she found out that I aligned with her opponent? Or someone with years of experience standing up to bullies, who shows up to every event she's invited to, and is not afraid to go toe to toe with people who would rather see her in a gutter?

The choice is clear folks. Please, please, PLEASE vote for Emily Berge on August 11th. Please tell your family and friends to vote for her. We are at an inflection point in American history, and Emily is the person we need to help us through it.

Think about this as you vote tomorrow:

Derrick Van Orden is okay with ICE officers at polling stations. It's hard to understand why anyone would think it's a good idea to have armed, masked federal immigration agents stationed where Americans cast their ballots. Voting should be free from intimidation, not surrounded by it.

Source: https://x.com/derrickvanorden/status/2031091070700757414

Photograph: Chad Davis

Disclaimer: This photograph is not real. It’s only a visualization of what ICE officers stationed at polling stations could look like.

How are you guys all feeling?

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DC uses their influence over ms media to influence voters & donors into believing Cooke is the candidate who will face off against DVO. Zoom in & see the dozen Berge supporters directly behind the one paid staffer for Cooke. OUR primary is today. Emily Berge is OUR candidate!