Milk’s the drink of choice at RFK Jr.’s event with swing-district Republican

ELK MOUND, WIS. — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed his love for milk again Monday. This time it was in the district of embattled GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden, whose western Wisconsin seat in America’s Dairyland is one Republicans really want to hold this November.

The visit, just the latest in a string of them from Cabinet secretaries to Van Orden’s district, comes as Republicans seek to shore up incumbents in toss-up races who must win this November if the GOP is to keep its House majority.

Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL elected in 2022 to replace a retiring Democrat, is seeking a third term. He won his prior races by tight margins. The Democrat he defeated two years ago by less than 3 points, Rebecca Cooke, is the daughter of a dairy farmer who has run a small business and a nonprofit supporting women entrepreneurs. She is seeking the party nod against Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge in an August primary. Cooke has outraised Van Orden.

Inside a machine shed at Gilbertson Family Farm, Kennedy touted his support for the farm’s products.

“Eat real food. It’s good for farmers; it’s good for consumers,” he said to a crowd of dozens of dairy farmers alongside Van Orden.

Van Orden cosponsored a bill President Donald Trump signed in January</u>","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/01/trump-signs-bill-allowing-schools-to-offer-whole-milk-00728907","_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff231000e","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff231000f","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>signed in January to lift Obama-era restrictions on whole milk in schools. That aligns with Kennedy’s goals. The health secretary has repeatedly encouraged people to drink more milk, including in a viral video in which he and the rock star Kid Rock sipped the beverage</u>","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f0WeXNBA-8A","_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320000","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320001","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>sipped the beverage in a hot tub. “We deprived two generations of children of whole milk,” Kennedy said. “It really was almost a form of child abuse.”

Trump plans to be in Van Orden’s district for an event Friday, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans granted anonymity to describe them ahead of a public announcement.

Van Orden’s a conservative, but broke from fellow Republicans in January to support Democratic legislation to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies. The House passed the bill</u>","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://legislation.politicopro.com/bill/US_119_HR_1834","_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320002","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320003","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>passed the bill, though it did not advance in the Senate.

Van Orden said he didn’t support</u>","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/08/the-gops-obamacare-defectors-were-more-numerous-than-expected-00718102","_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320004","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320005","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>said he didn’t support the way Obamacare directs government subsidies to insurance companies but that his constituents needed a “bridging mechanism” to something better. Roughly 33,000 people in his district are enrolled in Obamacare.

Kennedy is several months into his Make America Healthy Again tour</u>","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/04/rfk-midterm-travel-trump-maha-support-00858803","_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320006","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320007","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Make America Healthy Again tour, where he has brought his nutrition message to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Nashville, Tennessee; and Austin, Texas, among other places. The Trump administration is betting</u>","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/26/rfk-jr-isnt-staying-in-his-lane-trump-is-thrilled-00310770","_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320008","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff2320009","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>is betting Kennedy’s MAHA message promoting healthy eating and exercise resonates with the GOP base.

Kennedy’s dairy-farm tour follows a string of visits by Cabinet secretaries to Van Orden’s district. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have all held events with Van Orden in recent months.

Some of Kennedy’s views, such as his opposition to the weedkiller Roundup, threaten farmers, as does Trump’s trade war. That’s given Democrats’ hope they can make inroads in farm country.

Kennedy took pains Monday to tout Trump’s “priority of saving the American farmer and revitalizing rural America.”

Van Orden underperformed Trump in the district in 2024. Trump won it by 7 points, according to the Downballot</u>","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.the-downballot.com/p/the-downballots-calculations-of-presidential","_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff232000a","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"0000019e-85af-dde6-a5de-fdaff232000b","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>according to the Downballot.

“For decades, rural America has been forgotten by Washington, D.C.,” Van Orden said Monday. “It is abundantly clear by the amount of Cabinet-level secretaries that are here that the Trump administration cares about rural America.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

المصدر: Politico