Wisconsin Businessman/Inventor Taking On Speaker Paul Ryan In GOP Primary

Allan Wall

03/31/2016

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, an open borders fanatic with an F from Numbers USA now has a challenger in the Republican primary.

From the Washington Times:

Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlen announced Tuesday that he is the tea party-allied candidate who is challenging House Speaker Paul D. Ryan in the Republican primary, saying he’s “had it” with the speaker betraying conservatives.

Businessman Paul Nehlen to challenge Paul Ryan from right in primary

S.A. Miller, Washington Times, March 29, 2016

It’s hard to defeat an incumbent, but not impossible. If you think about it, it’s actually the most efficient way to get Ryan out of the Speakership — a fellow Republican beats him and gets him out of Congress. Recall how Dave Brat defeated Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Sources first confirmed to The Washington Times earlier this week that a wealthy businessman was mounting a primary challenge to Mr. Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, but Mr. Nehlen did not reveal his identity until now.
Here are Nehlen’s reasons for challenging Ryan:
“Paul Ryan’s embrace of big government spending, his continued support of illegal immigration and imported workers, and his championing of the job-killing trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership betrays me, this district, and this nation,” he said.

“He’s failed to put America’s security and American jobs first. I’ve had it. We’ve all had it,” said Mr. Nehlen, a successful executive, entrepreneur and inventor who previously donated to Mr. Ryan’s campaigns.

“Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have become front-runners in this presidential election cycle because they have dared to communicate an anti-establishment message. They won’t be alone,” he said. “I will bring the fight straight to one of the most powerful establishment players in Washington, taking him on right here in Wisconsin’s 1st District. Paul Ryan is a career politician. It’s time that career came to an end.”

The campaign said that Mr. Nehlen would file his candidacy papers Friday [First of April].

Here at VDARE.COM we can’t endorse candidates but we can talk about the issues and the elections. And this looks like an interesting race to follow.

Nehlen is an accomplished individual in the private sector.

Mr. Nehlen serves as senior vice president of operations for a leading water filtration and disinfection technologies company, and helped relocated manufacturing jobs from Canada to the U.S., including moving several product lines to Wisconsin. As an inventor, he holds several patents for filtration and manufacturing technologies, including processes that are involved in 3D printing.He lives in Delavan, Wisconsin, with his wife, Gabriela.
Of course, the Nehlen camp knows this is not easy.
The emergence of a viable Republican challenger in the district is the culmination of a months-long recruitment effort by tea party activists who say they were double-crossed by Mr. Ryan when he passed a $2 trillion spending package late last year. A political adviser close to Mr. Nehlen has acknowledged that it won’t be easy to defeat Mr. Ryan, who was the party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, currently ranks as one of the most powerful Republicans in Washington and has more than $5 million in his campaign war chest. The businessman is prepared to put a substantial amount of his personal fortune into the campaign, according to the adviser.
It’s good for the race that Nehlen has a “personal fortune”.
While it’s often an uphill run, there is precedent for a tea party challenger toppling a member of the House Republican leadership. Eric Cantor, while serving as majority leader, lost his seat in a Richmond, Virginia, suburb in a 2014 primary upset to tea-party-backed Dave Brat.

< Previous

Next >


This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.