Rodney Rave’s first foray into politics was just two years ago, when he ran for and won a seat in the legislature of the Ho-Chunk Nation.
In addition to helping govern the Nation – including crafting and approving the Nation’s annual budget – Rave and other legislators spent time in Washington, advocating for the Nation and Indigenous people to members of the United States Congress.
Rave was unimpressed.
“I just did not like the results. Nothing was getting done,” he said in an interview for the 365 Amplified podcast. “We were getting the lip service, the politician talk. And that’s when I decided I was going to resign from the legislature and get into this race. I want to be the voice for the third congressional district, along with Native tribes also.”
Listen to the full interview:
“This race” is the race against Republican incumbent Derrick Van Orden to represent Western Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives.
Rave, 61, got off to a pretty humble start in Black River Falls, where the Ho-Chunk Nation is headquartered.
“I grew up in a two-room house with dirt floors, no plumbing, no electricity,” he said. “That was my start, and I worked my way all the way to (where) I think I have a shot at being a congressman.”
He did that first as a worker in a casino – a relatively new thing at the time. After 11 years, “I wasn’t making ends meet as well as I would have liked,” he recalled, and moved into highway construction, where he worked for 31 years, retiring as an operating engineer.
Rave says it’s the economy — not the culture wars dominating Washington — that’s top of mind for most people he talks to.
“Most important to them is the economy. It’s tough to make ends meet,” he said. “I live in a very small town. There aren’t the best jobs here, and I know a lot of the Third Congressional District is that way. And I imagine people throughout the third congressional district are having just as much trouble as my local community making ends meet.”
The sprawl of the district, stretching from the Illinois border up past Eau Claire, doesn’t intimidate him. He notes that decades in construction meant constant travel across the upper Midwest, and his time in the Ho-Chunk legislature broadened that terrain even further.
“My district was the Upper Peninsula [of] Michigan, northern western third of Wisconsin, and a part, large part of Minnesota, which includes Minneapolis,” he said. “So I traveled a lot… representing a big district is not new to me.”
Rave’s working life was shaped by the labor movement. One year into his construction career, he said, “I was rewarded, I’m guessing, with good work and coming to work every day, with moving into operating engineers and I stayed there 30 years.”
He makes no secret that he’d like to see Wisconsin revive its union strength, which has been diminished since Act 10 effectively outlawed public-sector unions in 2011.
“Yes, I am for unions,” he said. “I’m hoping, with any influence I would have as a congressman, that I would be able to influence the state of Wisconsin to get the unions back.”
If elected, Rave believes he would be the first Indigenous person to represent Wisconsin in Congress.
“I would be bringing my Ho Chunk values that I was taught since childhood, where we take care of everybody, we help everybody. We don’t ask for payment,” he said. “We stand up against anybody that… such as the federal government, you know, we would stand up and fight there.”
He also noted his Bear Clan identity, which carries particular responsibilities.
“I am also a member of the Bear Clan, which in our tribe, we are basically the police of the tribe. We’re the protectors, and we’re also the ones who, back in the day, decided if we were going to war, which kind of falls into Congress’s hands,” he said. “So a natural fit for me.”
Rave knows he’s seeking office at a moment when Congress is deeply polarized and often gridlocked. But he said he isn’t intimidated.
“I have no problems with working with anybody and everybody,” he said. “But I will stand up for Wisconsin and the Third Congressional Districts and the tribes. I will fight for what’s right for everybody.”
He says voters should consider not just policy positions but temperament — who they believe can withstand “the bullying and the pressure in Washington” and still look out for their constituents.
“I would just ask the voters to look at all three (Democratic primary) candidates and who they feel would be able to stand up,” he said.
Rave’s early priorities—health care, education, and the economy—come from lived experience and the stories he’s heard from neighbors. “There’s a lot of health care issues with the Ho Chunk nation,” he said, citing multiple recent hospital closures across the region. He’s equally concerned about schools: “I did take a few things to Washington… about our education system here in this school district. I wasn’t pleased with the education that was happening.”
He said these issues are less partisan and more local.
“I realized who my bosses were, and it’s the people,” he said of his time in the legislature. “They tell me what to do.”
The primary election will take place in August 2026, and the general on November 3. The other Democratic Party candidates are Emily Berge and Rebecca Cooke, who won the primary and lost to Van Orden by less than 12,000 votes in 2024.
