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Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis.; Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis.
"That's your a**hole buddy," gay Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said about Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.
It started with the roar of a motorcycle and ended in a volley of insults about alcoholism, mental health, and campaign finances. On Wednesday, a routine Washington, D.C., press interview on the U.S. Capitol grounds devolved into a public and profane clash between two members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation: Rep. Mark Pocan, a gay progressive Democrat and former chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, and Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican with a history of controversy and outbursts.
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The exchange, captured during an interview with Spectrum News Wisconsin, quickly reverberated across social media platforms. Pocan had been standing alongside first-year Wisconsin GOP Rep. Tony Wied when Van Orden pulled up behind them on a motorcycle and gunned the engine loudly.
“That’s your asshole buddy. Derrick Van Orden. You can put that on the news,” Pocan said, turning toward the noise.
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Wied, caught between them, asked, “Was that on me?” “No,” Pocan replied. “That’s the nicest thing you did to me all day,” Wied said.
“Hey, Derrick,” Pocan added, raising his voice, “classy as always, man. We love it. Thank you.”
Van Orden walked toward the press gaggle. “Have you lost your mind? You know people read this stuff,” he said.
“I saw your drunken tweet at 1:30 in the morning last night,” Pocan replied.
“No, I got done with the NDAA, you jerk,” Van Orden responded, referring to the annual National Defense Authorization Act.
“You’ve got a problem. I don’t know what it is, but I’d encourage you to seek mental health counseling,” Van Orden continued. “It’s absolutely disgusting.”
Pocan fired back, “Why are you so afraid to debate anyone here? Why don’t you want to debate the big beautiful bill? Why are you afraid?”
Van Orden then accused Pocan of never holding a real job and claimed that he “funnels over $500,000 a year of his campaign money to buy signs from his company.”
Pocan, a longtime small-business owner, rejected the claim. “I’ve owned a small business for 37 years,” Pocan said, referring to Budget Signs & Specialties, a union print shop in Madison he cofounded in 1988. “Tony, you owned a small business. That’s a little work, isn’t it?”
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According to data compiled by OpenSecrets, Pocan’s campaign has made 14 payments totaling $114,325 to his business from 2018 through 2024, with the largest single-year amount, $55,143, spent during the 2020 election cycle. Spending campaign funds on services in this way is entirely legal. The total falls far short of the $500,000 annual figure Van Orden alleged.
“Oh, my God,” Pocan said as Van Orden continued shouting, “are you drinking right now, Derrick? That’s the real question.”
The exchange came hours after a tense back-and-forth between the two lawmakers on X (formerly Twitter). At 1:35 a.m. Wednesday, Van Orden tweeted, “Wisconsin is getting $1,000,000,000 a year plus up to Medicaide per year. If any Wisconsinite loses coverage it will be due to incompetence, mismanagement, and malice by @GovEvers. Seek mental health counseling.” The tweet included a misspelling of “Medicaid.”
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Pocan responded later that morning: “Only an idiot both votes to cut Medicaid and can’t spell it, @derrickvanorden. Please stop embarrassing Wisconsin.”
In a statement provided to The Advocate, Van Orden stood by his remarks. “Mark Pocan needs to seek two kinds of counseling: mental and legal,” he wrote.
Advocates and medical professionals have cautioned against using mental health references as political attacks, warning that such rhetoric discourages vulnerable people from seeking support. Pocan has been especially vocal in opposing cuts to mental health funding, including the Trump administration’s defunding of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ youth services, which were discontinued Thursday.
Van Orden rejected criticism for using mental health as a pejorative. “I have PTSD and speak about it publicly, and I always encourage anyone who has mental health concerns to get the help they need,” Van Orden said.
Van Orden’s conduct on Wednesday is part of a pattern. In July 2023, he screamed profanities at a group of teenage Senate pages who were lying on the Capitol Rotunda floor to take a traditional photo, NPR reported. According to a page’s transcript obtained by The Hill, Van Orden told the teens, “Wake the fuck, up you little shits,” and “Get the fuck out of here. You are defiling the space.” He reportedly also called them “jackasses” and “lazy shits.” The outburst drew rare bipartisan condemnation.
Two years earlier, the Associated Press reported that Van Orden confronted a 17-year-old library worker at the Prairie du Chien Memorial Library over a Pride Month book display in the children’s section. The staffer said he jabbed his finger at LGBTQ+ books and demanded to know who had set up the display so he could “teach them a lesson.” He checked out nearly every book from the display and returned them days later, undamaged. The staff member later said she no longer felt safe returning to work.
Pocan’s communications director, Matthew Handverger, told The Advocate that “Pocan stands by his remarks and has been trying to get Van Orden to debate for years at this point, but months on the Big Ugly Law. In fact, Pocan will be going to Van Orden’s hometown on July 31 to discuss the Big Ugly Law."
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include remarks from Rep. Mark Pocan’s communications director, Matthew Handverger.
