Paul Nehlen receives hugs after speaking Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Janesville, Wis., after losing to House Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s primary.
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But later, a Nehlen spokesperson accused the Ryan campaign of trying to prevent their supporters from carrying their message to voters. 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.
Nehlen, who took advantage of the media spotlight holding numerous press conferences and appeared often on television, embraced some of Trump’s most divisive language, including his focus on people killed by undocumented immigrants.
Nehlen was asked if he should lose Tuesday – whether he would endorse Ryan. Duffy starred on MTV’s “The Real World” before running for Congress. Ryan said it needs to be renegotiated, and that the votes aren’t there to pass it.
Ryan won his 2014 primary with 94 percent of the vote.
Speaker Paul Ryan of the U.S. House of Representatives speaks during his weekly briefing for reporters on Capitol Hill in photo taken February 11.
In a sign of the tension between the politicians, Trump told the newspaper he was “not quite there yet” – echoing a phrase Ryan had used about Trump. But people can’t vote in both parties’ primaries.
Ryan has been one of the best-known Republican figures and a spokesman for conservative principles with a blend of political acumen and policy wonkishness. “It doesn’t last. Most of all, it doesn’t work”, Ryan said in his remarks to reporters after the race was called.
But this time around, he faced an opponent who has openly supported Mr Trump, and the Republican White House candidate – with whom Mr Ryan has sparred throughout the campaign – offered his support only on Friday.
After the win, Ryan officially endorsed Mike Gallagher, the victor of the Republican Congressional primary in Wisconsin’s 8th District.
The outcome was an affirmation of Ryan’s home-state popularity within his own party, amid the turbulence surrounding the GOP presidential nominee and Ryan’s own public differences with Trump. He also has denounced a number of actions by the billionaire, including his plan to bar Muslim immigration to the US and his attacks on a Gold Star family and on a Hispanic-American judge.
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Speaking ahead of the result, several voters in Mr Ryan’s hometown of Janesville said they backed him.
