Third Democrat launches bid for western Wisconsin swing congressional district

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A third Democratic candidate has announced that she’s running for a western Wisconsin congressional seat held by freshman Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in one of the presidential battleground state’s swing districts. Former La Crosse County Board Chair Tara Johnson on Wednesday announced her candidacy. She joins former small-business owner Rebecca Cooke, who ran for the seat and lost last year in the primary, and Aaron Nytes, a Harvard Law School student. Wisconsin’s Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional District is comprised of parts of central, southwestern and western Wisconsin, including moderate exurbs of Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Johnson says she is running to fight for working families, rural communities, abortion rights, and affordable health care and prescription drugs.