A man named Ryan is expected to win the election in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District next month.
Many pundits say the winner will likely be U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Republican incumbent. But Democrat Ryan Solen is hoping for an upset, thanks in part, to Paul Ryan’s differences with GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Ryan Solen is a computer security analyst and Iraq War veteran who’s quick to acknowledge the challenge of a political battle against the House Speaker, currently the highest-ranking elected Republican in the country.
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“I know there’s this perception of Paul Ryan as untouchable, and that the district is very much gerrymandered,” Solen said. “But you know, in the end, I don’t know that it’s that huge of a deal.”
The 1st District stretches from the southern Milwaukee suburbs to Janesville and was redrawn after the last census to make it more Republican. Successful campaigning there usually requires expensive media buys in the Milwaukee and Madison markets.
Solen’s campaign doesn’t have much money. But he said he has a desire to make the federal government function better.
“Right now, as it stands,everyone’s looking to play party games,” Solen said. “We don’t have time for that. The country doesn’t have time for that.”
In terms of policy issues, Solen says a key need is to balance the federal budget with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases on the wealthy. He argues the Affordable Care Act has been a step in the right direction, but wants to move health care toward a single payer system, such as the Tricare program used by the military. He also says his service in Iraq has made him want the United States to exhaust all diplomatic means before jumping into violent conflicts.
For his part, Paul Ryan hasn’t ignored Solen’s campaign, but hasn’t acknowledged it much, either. He has instead spent most of his time promoting his Republican House agenda.
The speaker, with millions of dollars in campaign funds, has started running television ads, including one offering a rundown of his legislative plan. In the ad, Ryan says, in a rapid-fire voice, “We’ve gotta clean up the tax code and get those rates down. We want America to be energy producers. The government is hyper-regulating businesses. The Obamacare law is not working. We’re going to replace that.”
Ryan also made a speech this month in Madison about what he feels are the failures of liberal progressivism, and in one of his few public appearances in the 1st District, he spoke at a GOP rally in Elkhorn.
The Fall Fest event was supposed to have included GOP standard bearer Donald Trump. But Trump was dropped from the line-up after Ryan criticized him for making lewd remarks about women in 2005. Ryan defended his stance, saying “I meant what I said, and it’s still how I feel.”
Ryan continues to back Trump for president, but Trump supporters criticized Ryan in Elkhorn and many more did so prior to a Trump appearance last week in Green Bay, as they chanted “Paul Ryan sucks.”
Democrat Solen said he’s heard from some Trump supporters who have told him they’ll now split their ticket and vote for him in the 1st District House race.
“I think what it is, is the fact that I am willing to work with all sides and it has a little bit of appeal to them,” Solen said. “They understand I do look at things more in depth. I do look at the details and get past the idea of a label.”
But if political scientists are correct, Solen is going to need a lot of defectors from Paul Ryan in order to pull an upset Nov. 8.
Outside the Racine Public Library last Saturday, Steve Klinkhammer said the speaker’s probably still his guy, despite not dumping Trump.
“Well, I don’t think (Ryan) has a choice, being in the Republican Party,” Klinkhammer said. “(Trump) is the Republican nominee, and every one of those guys have a sliver in their rear end. That’s just the rail they’ve had to ride.”
Even if Ryan is re-elected in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, there’s already speculation his criticism of Trump and the potential loss of many GOP House seats will make it challenging for him to stay on as speaker.
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