It’s a strategy the Republicans used when they beat Eric Cantor in the primary, one of their own but not conservative enough, in 2014. Cantor, House Majority Leader and seemingly unbeatable, was vulnerable in one particular area: immigration reform. And the keyword Tea Party Republicans latched onto was amnesty. Cantor was for it, but voters in his Virginia district were not. Nobody saw it coming when an obscure, bland economics professor from an equally obscure college in his district beat Cantor, quite handily, on that issue alone. Shockwaves reverberated throughout the halls of Congress as Eric Cantor tumbled back to his old banking position in the private sector.
Now in Wisconsin a similar race is shaping up pitting powerful Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who won his race by 35 percentage points in 2016, with ironworker turned congressional candidate Randy Bryce, a Democrat. Bryce seems to be attacking Ryan broadside with no particular issue as hot button as amnesty, but he is definitely attracting attention. Can he find Ryan’s vulnerabilities? He seems to think so, pointing out Ryan’s lack of visibility in conducting town hall meetings during the Fourth of July recess with the Trumpcare vote pending in the Senate, his advocacy relationship with a very unpopular Donald Trump, and a “mean, mean” (Trump’s words) version of a Republican health care bill, passed in the House under Ryan’s auspices. The First Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin is generally not happy with Paul Ryan these days.
Randy Bryce, on the other hand, is a perfect foil to Ryan. He is a full time, longtime ironworker, with a mother who has cancer in fear of losing [Read more…] about Taking Back Our Country