Ryan’s farewell tour aims to secure Republican hold
WASHINGTON – Paul Ryan wants to hold on to the House if it’s the last thing he does.
The retiring House speaker plans an aggressive final stretch of campaigning in an attempt to bolster more than two dozen vulnerable Republicans and keep the House before he retires.
Ryan’s travel plan, shared exclusively with USA TODAY, has the speaker visiting a dozen states over the next three weeks. Ryan’s campaign tour will zigzag from New York to Kansas to North Carolina, including stops in between. He’ll end the campaign cycle back home in Wisconsin with a bus tour touting GOP candidates up and down the ballot.
House Republicans are defending dozens of seats across the country, including in some districts Donald Trump won by double digits. Democrats need to pick up 23 seats to wrest the House majority from Republicans.
Ryan’s tour across the eastern part of the country – he visited other regions earlier in the cycle – will take him to stump for some unlikely candidates, including multiple members of the House Freedom Caucus.
The ultra-conservative group has been a thorn in Ryan’s side during his tenure, often threatening to sink legislation members said was not conservative enough. Ryan will spend some of his precious final days as speaker trying to make sure Reps. Dave Brat of Virginia, Rod Blum of Iowa and Ted Budd of North Carolina make it into the next Congress.
Kevin Seifert, executive director of Ryan’s political operation, said the candidates the speaker campaigns for support his agenda. “The speaker knows that every Republican he is joining on the trail during this final sprint would offer better ideas than their Democrat opponents,” he said.
Ryan will appear at various campaign events, including fundraisers, rallies and business tours, depending on the district. The majority of candidates he will campaign for are members of the House, but Ryan will help out a handful of Republicans hoping to fill open red seats.
Some of the members on Ryan’s list have been all but counted out by race handicappers, but Ryan’s team said the speaker wouldn’t waste his time if the races weren’t winnable.
Some Republicans worried – while Democrats hoped – that Ryan’s early retirement announcement in April would turn off donors months before the midterms.
That has not been the case. Ryan has continued to draw in cash for his party, raising more than $70 million as of the most recent filing. Much of that haul went to the Republicans’ House campaign arm or to members directly.
President Trump has been a powerful motivator for conservatives, but in many battleground districts, the Republican candidate must also win over moderate Republicans and independents, groups not as convinced by the bombastic president. Ryan – who has a thoughtful, polished manner – could help more than a visit from Trump in some of the most competitive races.
Democrats seized on the GOP’s failure last year to repeal the Affordable Care Act, pledging to fix the flaws in Obamacare while targeting Republican attempts to take coverage away.
“Most Republicans in Congress are trying to run away from the agenda of the last two years, so bringing its author to their district is only going to remind voters of what they tried to do,” said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist who worked for the House Democrats’ campaign arm.
“It’s like Republicans looking to the captain of the Titanic to be your navigator. Given how intensely voters reject the health care repeal, I can’t imagine many Republicans wanting to pal around with him,” Ferguson said.
Republicans should enjoy Ryan’s fundraising help while they can. Addressing an event at the National Press Club in Washington last week, Ryan said he didn’t plan on doing much fundraising after he leaves office.
One thing Ryan didn’t rule out: someday getting back into politics.
“Never say never,” he said.