U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan appeared to be heading for victory in a primary race for his congressional seat on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
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But Trump finally gave in to pressure and gave his endorsement last Friday at a rally from which Nehlen was barred.
In a year full of United States presidential race firsts, and with incumbent lawmakers under tough scrutiny, a loss by Mr Ryan would have further jolted the rattled USA political establishment as it eyes a White House election pitting Mr Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The speaker’s blowout win is a sign anti-establishment fervor that helped propel Trump to the nomination has not caught fire in down-ballot races. “That stuff sells, but it doesn’t stick”.
This is Ryan’s first re-election win since becoming speaker last fall. Trump relented just three days later after coming under criticism from GOP leaders, but the burst of publicity was priceless for Nehlen, an executive at a water filtration company.
But Ryan will continue to face stiff political challenges as speaker, and his balancing act on Trump – endorsing while criticizing – will continue to draw fire from Trump’s critics and supporters alike.
“There is a lot of anger that Washington just isn’t working”, Ryan said.
“I think Paul Ryan is soon to be ‘Cantored, ‘ as in Eric Cantor”, 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said on CNN in May.
Nehlen, who has used the Trump-Ryan row to his own benefit, said the presidential contest and the congressional race are centered around what he described as a situation in which the American people are repeatedly being lied to. “We received the vote that we were hoping and expecting to get all along”, Ryan said.
Ryan now moves on to the fall general election to face the victor of the Democratic primary between Ryan Solen and Tom Breu. In May, he challenged Ryan to an arm-wrestling match.
Mr Ryan remains very popular in his home state, where he has kept close ties.
Ryan even invoked Trump’s name, saying even Trump is for “good deals”, but Ryan qualified that statement by adding a more robust defense for open markets.
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In the end, Trump’s impact on the Ryan race may have negligible, other than to possibly boost turnout, which was somewhat higher Tuesday than it was in Ryan’s token primary in 2014.
