Derrick Francis Van Orden (born September 15, 1969) is an American politician, businessman, actor, and retired

United States Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...

who is the U.S. representative for

Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district covers most of the Driftless Area in southwestern and western Wisconsin. The district includes the cities of Eau Claire, La Crosse, and Stevens Point, as well as many Wisconsin-based exurbs of the Minne ...

Career

Van Orden served in the United States Navy SEALs from 1988 to 2014.

Political involvement

Van Orden was the Republican nominee for

in the

2020 election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **Cro ...

, narrowly losing to incumbent Democrat

Ron Kind Ronald James Kind (born March 16, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for , since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is in the western part of the state and is anchored by La Crosse ...

. He was nominated to run for the seat again in the 2022 election, and won, narrowly defeating

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

nominee

Brad Pfaff Bradley M. Pfaff (born December 7, 1967) is an American politician and government official. A Democrat, he is a member of the Wisconsin State Senate for the 32nd senate district. The 32nd district comprises La Crosse and Crawford counties, as w ...

and flipping the district from Democrat to Republican for the first time since 1994. Van Orden was present at the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the Legislature, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is form ...

during the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-United States President, U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol, U ...

Other work

Van Orden is an actor, appearing in '' Act of Valor'' (2012), ''

Surviving the Wild ''Surviving the Wild'' a.k.a. ''Riley's Peak'' is a 2018 American family adventure film directed by Patrick Alessandrin and written by Mark Hefti. It stars Jon Voight, Jamie Kennedy, Vail Bloom, Matt Bevin, and Aidan Cullen. It was released in selec ...

'' (2018) and '' Running with the Devil'' (2019). He opened the Butternut Cafe in Butternut, Wisconsin, in 2017.

LGBT library book incident

On June 17, 2021, Van Orden confronted a staff member at Prairie du Chien Memorial Library in indignation over a display of books with

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

themes assembled for

Pride Month LGBT Pride Month is a month, typically in June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. Pride Month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969, and ha ...

. Van Orden was particularly upset by the book '' A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo'', about a fictional day in the life of Marlon Bundo, the real-life pet rabbit of former Vice President of the United States

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, ...

, and the rabbit's subsequent same-sex romance. Van Orden submitted a written complaint to the library that the book was "skewing young people to think that Republicans are not inclusive. This book is not informational, it is propaganda". A staff member described Van Orden as "very uncomfortable, threatening" with "full-on shouting" and "aggressively shoving the books around". He wanted to know who had established the display so he could "teach them a lesson". Van Orden subsequently withdrew all the books on display out of the library and then returned them within a week.

Arrest

On August 27, 2021, Van Orden was arrested at the Eastern Iowa Airport in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

, after attempting to carry a fully-loaded

SIG Sauer Several brother companies that design and manufacture firearms use the brand name SIG Sauer . The original company, ''Schweizerische Waggon-Fabrik'' (SWF), later ''Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft'' (SIG), went through several selloffs, ...

handgun through a security checkpoint. He initially pleaded not guilty, but later waived his rights and pleaded guilty. The court ordered Van Orden to pay fines and complete a gun safety program. He was placed on one year's probation on December 28, 2021.

Electoral history

2020

2022

References

External links

Congressman Derrick Van Orden
official U.S. House website
Derrick Van Orden for Congress
campaign website * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Orden, Derrick 1969 births 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American restaurateurs Businesspeople from Wisconsin Living people Male actors from Wisconsin Military personnel from Wisconsin People from Crawford County, Wisconsin People from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin United States Navy SEALs personnel Wisconsin Republicans