House Speaker Paul Ryan squelched any chance of an August surprise in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary, while a trio of Republicans waited to see who would emerge in a fight for an open congressional seat in the northeast of the state.
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With 28.4 percent reporting, Ryan was leading 85 percent to Nehlen’s 15 percent.
The movement against the 46-year-old Ryan took on the appearance of a revolt of sorts, in the midst of an anti-establishment wave that helped make Mr Trump the party’s presidential nominee. He used Trump’s hesitation to endorse Ryan as fodder to attack Ryan.
Early last week, Trump tweeted a thanks to Nehlen, which seemed to be a tacit endorsement of Ryan’s challenger.
Nehlen, a Donald Trump supporter, who opposes Ryan’s positions not only on global trade but also on immigration.
“It’s not very busy”, said city clerk Kris Teske, noting that it was sharply slower than in April, when the presidential primary drove turnout to 14 percent by the same time of day. Ryan has outraised him 17-1 and is endorsed by the National Rifle Association, Wisconsin Right to Life and all 16 GOP legislators in the district. In Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, which has a population of 65,000, some voters openly question the Speaker’s commitment to republican conservatism.
Ryan had downplayed the primary challenge and rarely, if at all, engaged with Nehlen.
Ryan is expected to easily win his race against Democrat Tom Breu in November.
This is Nehlen’s first political campaign. Nehlen wrote on Twitter that “we very likely stopped (the Trans Pacific Partnership) and damaged Paul Ryan’s ability to continue growing government”. He represents the 1st congressional district in southeastern Wisconsin.
Trump shifted course a few days later under heavy pressure from Republican leadership, but by then Nehlen had gotten a burst of national publicity.
He first made a splash with a web video riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, showing his tattooed arms and challenged Ryan to an arm-wrestling match if he wouldn’t debate him.
Nehlen, a businessman, had also received an endorsement from former Gov. Sarah Palin.
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Most importantly, polling this summer by the Marquette Law School showed more than 80% of GOP voters in his district had a positive view of the Janesville lawmaker, making the speaker a much more popular figure on his home turf than Trump, who lost the Wisconsin primary four months ago. Trump did not come up other than Ryan’s mention of him as it relates to trade.
