Randy Bryce (D), who is running for the congressional seat being vacated by Speaker Paul Ryan, tweets that his opponent, Bryan Steil (R), “just released three minutes of silent B roll footage in hopes a right wing Super PAC would use it to make an ad for him.”
He adds: “They haven’t made one yet, so we made one for them.”
Republicans are out with a brutal radio ad targeting Wisconsin congressional candidate Randy Bryce (D):
DISPATCH: “Squad Car 5-8-0. We have reports of a swerving vehicle. Do you read?”
POLICE OFFICER: “This is Squad Car 5-8-0. We’re on the scene. We have a drunk driver in custody.”
DISPATCH: “Can we get an ID on him?”
POLICE OFFICER: “Yeah, his name is Randy Bryce. Repeat offender.”
NARRATOR: “Randy Bryce has been arrested nine times. Driving while under the influence. Driving on a suspended license. Drug possession. Property Damage. Theft. Randy Bryce has been arrested nine times.”
NARRATOR: “Nine arrests? Randy Bryce has no business making the laws. He’s spent his life breaking the law.”
Associated Press: “A former driver for House Speaker Paul Ryan who has been active in Wisconsin Republican politics for years announced Sunday he is running to succeed Ryan in Congress. Bryan Steil, an attorney from Ryan’s hometown of Janesville and a member of the UW Board of Regents, becomes the likely Republican front-runner after the field of better-known potential candidates cleared for his entry.”
Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said “he will not run to replace Speaker Paul Ryan in their native state of Wisconsin — but he declined to rule out running for public office in the future,” Politico reports.
Speaker Paul Ryan’s retirement shifts Wisconsin’s his congressional district from the Solid Republican to the Lean Republican, “with the potential for the race to become even more competitive,” the according to the Cook Political Report.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball says it’s a Toss Up.
Weekly Standard: “Ryan’s district might not be competitive if the national environment was neutral. Wisconsin’s 1st District moved right in the 2016 election. Trump won the district by 10 points after Romney took it only by four points in 2012 (though 2012 may be an odd case because Ryan was the GOP’s vice presidential nominee). And in 2008, Barack Obama won the area by about three points while winning the national popular vote by seven, suggesting that it took a real step to the right over the course of the last four to eight years. If you add that to Ryan’s incumbency advantage, you get a district that would’t typically be near the boottom of the GOP’s list of worries.
“But the national environment isn’t neutral.”
Randy Bryce (D), a Democratic veteran and iron worker, announced he will challenge Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) for Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district in 2018, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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