Derrick Francis Van Orden (born September 15, 1969) is an American politician, actor, and retired United States Navy SEAL who is the U.S. representative for Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district.^[1] He is a member of the Republican Party.

Van Orden was born in Minnesota on September 15, 1969.^[2][3] He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Excelsior University.^[4]

Van Orden joined the United States Navy in 1988 when he was 18 years old. He received orders to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/S) at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in 1992. After months of training, Van Orden graduated with BUD/S class 184 in October 1992. Van Orden received assignment to SEAL Team FOUR at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia. Following advanced SEAL training and completion of a six-month probationary period, he received the Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5326 as a Combatant Swimmer (SEAL), entitled to wear the Special Warfare insignia.^[5]

He served for 26 years, retiring as a Senior Chief in 2014.^[6][7] During his military career, Van Orden served five combat deployments.^[6]

Van Orden played the role of Senior Chief Otto Miller in the 2012 film Act of Valor. He also had roles in the 2018 film Surviving the Wild^[8] and Running with the Devil (2019).^[9]

From 2017 to early 2019, Van Orden and his wife operated the Butternut Café^[10] in the Village of Butternut in northern Wisconsin.

Van Orden was the Republican nominee for Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district, losing to incumbent Democrat Ron Kind by a margin of about three percentage points.^[11]

President Donald Trump endorsed Van Orden’s 2020 campaign.^[12]

Van Orden was once again the Republican nominee for Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district. The seat was open following incumbent Democrat Ron Kind’s decision not to run for re-election. Van Orden focused his 2022 campaign on his military service and the economy.^[13][14] Former President Donald Trump endorsed Van Orden’s 2022 campaign.^[12]

Van Orden defeated Democratic state senator Brad Pfaff in the general election.^[13]

Van Orden was re-elected to a second term, garnering 51.4% of the vote and defeating Democratic nominee Rebecca Cooke.^[15]

Van Orden serves on the House Committee on Agriculture, the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.^[16]

Van Orden was giving a Capitol tour on the evening of July 26, 2023, when he happened upon Senate pages lying on the floor of the United States Capitol rotunda taking photos of the interior of the Capitol dome (this is a traditional activity for the pages during their final week of service).^[17][18] Van Orden allegedly swore at the pages and told them to get off the floor.^[18][19] Van Orden’s behavior was condemned by his fellow Republicans, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Thom Tillis, who said, “This is inexcusable and embarrassing behavior for a member of Congress or any adult for that matter. The Congressman should do the right thing and apologize.”^[18]

Van Orden had an outburst during a White House briefing on the Gaza war.^[20]

During President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address, Van Orden shouted “lies” after Biden criticized Donald Trump over Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[21]

In February 2025, Van Orden filed a resolution to impeach U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer after the judge blocked Elon Musk‘s team from accessing sensitive U.S. Treasury Department payment systems.^[22] The following month, Musk contributed the maximum allowable donation to Van Orden and other Republicans who supported the impeachment of federal judges who had ruled against the Trump administration.^[23]

Following the shootings of Minnesota legislators in June, Van Orden falsely linked the perpetrator to the anti-Trump No Kings protests, writing “Yesterday, a whole pack of election deniers got together and spewed hate. One of them decided to murder and attempt to murder some politicians that were not far Left enough for them.” Van Orden responded to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz‘s statements mourning the shootings in posts calling Walz “stupid” and a “clown.” He replied to criticism of his comments from fellow Wisconsin representative Mark Pocan, telling Pocan “It is statistically impossible that you could be dumb enough to believe what you are writing.”^[24][25]

Van Orden voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Van Orden celebrated passage of the Act by posting “YES!” on X in response to a post critical of the bill which stated “17 million people just lost health care. 18 million kids just lost school meals. 3 million Americans just lost food assistance. And $3.5 trillion was added to the deficit. All for a tax cut for Trump’s billionaire donors.” Van Orden later deleted the post.^[26]

After voting to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Van Orden commented that he and other Republicans were “not a bunch of little bitches” for falling in line with President Trump’s policies and self-imposed deadline.^[27]

Van Orden attended the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally^[28] and was present at the United States Capitol during the January 6 United States Capitol attack.^[29][30]

On June 17, 2021, Van Orden confronted a teenage library page at Prairie du Chien Memorial Library about a display of books with LGBT themes assembled for Pride Month.^[31] Van Orden was particularly upset by A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a fictional book about the same-sex romance of Marlon Bundo, the real-life pet rabbit of former Vice President Mike Pence. Van Orden submitted a written complaint to the library stating that the book was “skewing young people to think that Republicans are not inclusive. This book is not informational, it is propaganda”.^[32] A staff member said that Van Orden was “aggressively shoving the books around”, was shouting, and wanted to know who had established the display so he could “teach them a lesson”.^[31]

• Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
  • Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, Chairman
• Committee on Agriculture
  • Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture Subcommittee
• Armed Services
  • Strategic Forces
  • Intelligence and Special Operations

• Congressional Border Security Caucus
• Congressional Career and Technical Education Caucus
• Congressional Biofuels Caucus
• Congressional Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus
• Congressional Pediatric and Adult Hydrocephalus Caucus
• Congressional Motorcycle Caucus^[33] Co-Chair

Van Orden and his wife, Sara Jane, live in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.^[34] They have four children and eleven grandchildren.^[34] He is a Protestant.^[35][36] In August 2023, Van Orden’s oldest daughter, Sydney Marie Martenis, died of cancer.^[37][38]

On August 27, 2021, Van Orden was cited at the Eastern Iowa Airport for having a loaded handgun in his bag at the security checkpoint. Van Orden called the incident “a mistake”; he paid a fine, completed a gun safety program, and was placed on one year’s probation.^[39][40]

• A Book of Man: A Navy SEAL’s Guide to the Lost Art of Manhood, 2015. (ISBN 9780692427378).^[43]

• Congressman Derrick Van Orden official U.S. House website
• Derrick Van Orden for Congress campaign website
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Derrick Van Orden at IMDb