Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a boost to a front-line House Republican on Tuesday, making a day trip to Midwest battlegrounds just two weeks before midterm elections in which Republicans face an uphill fight to hold Congress.
On his second Wisconsin visit this year, Hegseth spoke to manufacturing workers at Riverside Machine and Engineering in Eau Claire as part of the Pentagon’s “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, praising Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., for his background and military service.
“No more steadfast supporter on Capitol Hill than that man right there, who never forgets where he came from — whether it’s the U.S. Navy, whether it’s the SEALs or whether it’s Wisconsin,” Hegseth said. “He’s a guy that just never backs down, and I respect the heck out of what he does and how he does it.”
Van Orden, a second-term lawmaker and staunch ally of President Trump, is locked in a tight reelection fight against Democrat Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. Before introducing Hegseth, he highlighted his own service, noting he joined the Navy at 18 and retired more than two decades later as a SEAL senior chief.
Van Orden said the two became friends a “long time ago” and that the Pentagon chief’s heart is in the “right place.”
“He fought for our country in uniform with the gun in his hand against evil. He didn’t have to do that. He did,” Van Orden said. “He’s doing it for you. He’s doing it for your children.”
The congressman also championed the trades over the four-year college route, telling the Riverside workers their labor saves lives.
“There are Americans that are alive because of you,” he said. “There are less widows, there are children with fathers and mothers because of your work.”
Hegseth touted reforms implemented since he took over the Pentagon and stressed the need to expand America’s defense industrial base.
Cooke fired back, pointing out that Van Orden voted six times against war powers resolutions to end the U.S. war against Iran and knocking him for not holding a “single in-person town hall.” She accused him of making time “to pal around” with an official who promised the war would be over months ago.
The Cook Political Report rates the race a “toss-up,” while Sabato’s Crystal Ball recently shifted it to lean Democratic.
Hegseth previously campaigned for Republicans in Kentucky and Iowa earlier this year, prompting some critics to claim the appearances violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from political activities. Other top Trump officials faced similar allegations after attending a rally in Alaska earlier this month.
On Tuesday, however, Hegseth stopped short of a direct endorsement and did not go after Cooke, sticking to a less political script than his August Iowa trip. There, while campaigning for Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, he slammed past Democratic administrations. Pentagon officials said he attended that fundraiser in a “personal capacity,” but the Steady State, a group of former national security officials, filed an ethics complaint.
Three months before that, Hegseth backed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein in Kentucky. Gallrein went on to defeat Rep. Thomas Massie in the GOP primary. Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth last month.
Before Wisconsin, Hegseth stopped in Dayton, Ohio, touring Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Aviation Innovation and Technology Center, where Korean Air 747-8 jets are being converted into E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Centers, the next generation of “doomsday” planes that will replace the older E-4B jets.
“What exists in this nation is not gifted. It was forged,” Hegseth told workers. “It was forged by labor, by expertise, and by the sheer willpower of each of you.”
He again pushed for Trump’s record $1.5 trillion defense budget request, arguing it would keep America’s military the world’s most powerful while creating high-paying manufacturing jobs. Hegseth also vowed the Pentagon will pass a clean audit by the end of Trump’s second term and said the department is opening the door to newer firms competing with prime contractors.
“That means more jobs, more reliable, high-paying jobs as companies invest in their people,” he said.
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