Rep. Katrina Shankland, D-Stevens Point, knocked 3rd CD primary rival Rebecca Cooke after a group backing Cooke’s campaign started running an ad claiming Shankland is “working for Republicans, not you.”
Cooke’s campaign fired back that Shankland needs to answer for her record on health care as attacks between the candidates escalated two weeks out from the Aug. 13 primary, which will decide who faces off against incumbent U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, in November.
Shankland spoke yesterday on a media call with U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, and Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, who have endorsed her campaign. She argued the ad could have a negative ripple effect on other Dems in the region.
“It is harmful to our democracy when so much dark money comes into a Democratic primary, some of which is used to attack a longstanding lawmaker’s legislative record, and it isn’t just my record, it’s many other Democrats, some of whom are in vulnerable positions in the third congressional district,” Shankland said.
Pocan said the goal is to defeat Van Orden, “not to hack our fellow Democrats like this.” Dems Cooke, Shankland and Eau Claire mortgage loan officer Eric Wilson are seeking to unseat Van Orden.
Pocan said Cooke should demand the ads against Shankland stop airing, and noted Cooke has a section on her website detailing messaging groups can use against Shankland, which is referenced in the ad.
The spot, paid for by New Democrat Majority PAC, comes after Shankland launched an ad last month showing her cutting her husband’s hair and asking “Would you hire a barber who’s never cut hair before? So why send someone to Congress who’s never held public office and never passed a single bill?” Text in the ad showed a photo of Cooke and noted she’s never held public office or passed a bill.
Shankland argued her ad was factual in pointing out that Cooke hasn’t passed a bill or held public office, but the claims in the New Democrat Majority PAC aren’t true.
The New Democratic Majority PAC ad shows a screen recording of Shankland’s ad as a voice-over asks, “Why is Katrina Shankland attacking Becca Cooke? Could it be Shankland doesn’t want to talk about her own record?”
The ad charges Shankland with “hamstringing our governor from expanding BadgerCare,” closing rural hospitals, giving more tax breaks for the rich” and “rolling back restrictions on how close sexual predators can live to our schools and daycares.”
Shankland’s campaign website has a dedicated web page denying the claims, including noting she has co-sponsored legislation to expand BadgerCare for the past 12 years.
Cooke’s campaign manager Alex Obolensky blasted Shankland in a statement this afternoon, saying she was “attempting to muddy the waters in a desperate attempt to hide her record of undermining BadgerCare” and siding with politicians who put self-interest before their constituents.
“Shankland is clearly trying to cling to relevance due to her toxic record being exposed,” Obolensky said. “It is frankly embarrassing to see someone who claims to be a public servant crying foul and indulging in vicious, dishonest attacks out of only a shallow sense of personal ambition.”
The Cooke campaign release notes Shankland voted with Republicans in 2018 on a bill, SB 770, which included a provision to prohibit the governor from expanding Medicaid without state lawmakers’ approval.
It also includes screenshots the Cooke campaign alleges come from Shankland’s website, outlining messaging for those seeking to support Shankland, including noting she is the only candidate in the primary to hold public office or pass bills into law.
Meanwhile, Cooke released a poll showing she had a 13-point lead over Shankland in the upcoming primary, though a third of those surveyed were undecided.
The poll found 38% backed Cooke in the primary, with 25% for Shankland, 4% for Wilson and 33% undecided.
In the general, 46% backed Cooke, while 50% supported Van Orden, with 4% undecided.
The poll was conducted by GQR by live phone interviews and text-to-web from June 10-16 with a margin of error of +/- 5.3%. Data was weighted by age, gender, education, vote history and partisanship to reflect likely August primary voters.
FiveThirtyEight ranks GQR 1.9 out of three stars.
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