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 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 ...

from 1988 to 2014.

Political involvement

Van Orden was the Republican nominee for

in the 2020 election, 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 nominee Brad Pfaff 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 the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

during the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then- U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in p ...

Other work

Van Orden is an actor, appearing in ''

Act of Valor ''Act of Valor'' is a 2012 American action film produced and directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh, and written by Kurt Johnstad. Starring Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sánchez, Nestor Serrano and Emilio Rivera, as well as active duty U.S. Navy SEAL ...

'' (2012), '' Surviving the Wild'' (2018) and ''

Running with the Devil ''Running with the Devil'' is a 2019 American crime thriller film written and directed by Jason Cabell and starring Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Leslie Bibb and Barry Pepper. It is Cabell's directorial debut. It was released in the United ...

'' (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 Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821. Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...

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 is a ...

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 ''A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo'' is a 2018 children's book written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by EG Keller (a pseudonym of Gerald Kelley). The book is about a fictional day in the life of Marlon Bundo, the real-life pet rabbit of forme ...

'', about a fictional day in the life of

Marlon Bundo Marlon Bundo (2012/2013 – January 15, 2022), also known as Bunny of the United States (BOTUS), was a rabbit belonging to the family of Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States from 2017 to ...

, 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, he previously served as the 50th ...

, 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, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

, 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