Ex-driver running for Paul Ryan’s seat in Congress

MADISON, Wis. — A former driver for House Speaker Paul Ryan who has been active in Wisconsin Republican politics for years announced yesterday that he is running to succeed Ryan in Congress.

Bryan Steil, an attorney from Ryan’s hometown of Janesville and a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, becomes the likely Republican front-runner after the field of better-known potential candidates cleared for his entry.

“I want to take my problemsolving skills to Congress. I think they need problem solvers, doers ... not talkers,” Steil said in prepared remarks announcing his candidacy.

He cited the need for a good education, quality schools and skilled workers for jobs of the future.

“I want to take our Wisconsin work ethic and my problem-solving experience to Washington’s non-stop crisis factory,” he said.

Steil, 37, entered the race less than two weeks after Ryan said he would not seek re-election. Ryan said Friday that he had no immediate plans to endorse anyone.

Among the other Republicans running for the seat are two former Ryan opponents. One of them, Jeremy Ryan, is known for riding his Segway and being a prominent liberal protester in Madison. He got 6 percent of the vote against Ryan in 2014.

Another candidate, Paul Nehlen, was banned by Twitter for racist and anti-Semitic posts earlier this year and lost to Ryan in the 2016 primary by 68 percentage points.

Ryan’s campaign, among others, has said Nehlen is not fit to hold office.

Two other GOP candidates, security consulting firm co-owner and former Green Beret Nick Polce and applications engineer Kevin Adam Steen, are political newcomers.

On the Democratic side, union ironworker Randy Bryce faces Janesville teacher Cathy Myers. Bryce, who made a national splash with his launch video and nickname “Iron Stache,” has been leading in fundraising and was put on the national House Democrats’ list of top challengers in Republican-held districts even before Ryan stepped aside.

In a statement, Bryce campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt called Steil “part of the institutional Republican swamp that believes we should give tax breaks to the wealthy and pay for it by attacking working people’s retirements and healthcare.”

Myers criticized Steil’s record as regent.

“Voters don’t want another rubber stamp in Washington, they want a representative who will fight for them,” Myers said in a statement.

The primary is Aug. 14.