“I have been honored to serve this 1st congressional district since 1998”, Ryan said during a press conference Tuesday night.
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Ryan will face Democrat Ryan Solen in November. “So in our shared mission, to make America great again, I support and endorse our speaker of the House, Paul Ryan”.
Ryan says “We knew we were going to do well”.
“In times as uncertain as these, it is easy to resort to division”. Nehlen, though, cast the speaker as supportive of trade deals seen as harmful to United States jobs by Trump. Ryan said it needs to be renegotiated, and that the votes aren’t there to pass it. It was an early expression of the anti-Never Trump attitude that because Trump won Republican and Republican-leaning voters were obligated to vote for him, and a variation on the old “a vote for a third party candidate is a vote for the major party candidate I assume you don’t like” saw.
Instead, a simple podium with a “Ryan for Congress” campaign sign was set up in front of three rows of chairs for reporters at meeting hall in his hometown of Janesville. Now the race is on the national radar.
But Trump finally gave in to pressure and gave his endorsement last Friday at a rally from which Nehlen was barred.
The contest was overshadowed by presidential candidate Donald Trump’s brief refusal last week to endorse his fellow Republican. Nehlen attracted support from Sarah Palin and conservative provocateur Ann Coulter, with the latter appearing alongside Nehlen in the district over the weekend.
Nehlen, an executive at a water filtration company, first made a splash with a web video of him riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, showing his tattooed arms.
Nehlen’s supporters hoped he would pull an upset, citing college professor David Brat’s stunning 2014 win over then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia. Ryan planned to speak after a victor is declared in his congressional race against longshot Republican challenger Paul Nehlen. Ryan spent significantly on TV ads and enjoyed the support of party leaders, GOP elected officials and talk radio hosts, a major force in Republican politics in southeastern Wisconsin. Nelson ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary. Wisconsin Republicans rewarded strong, principled leadership today. He was defeated in 1974 by Bob Kasten, a future USA senator. Unlike Cantor, Ryan has stayed very close to his district and could not be painted as having lost touch with its voters the way Cantor could.
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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.
