Bernie Sanders Is Now Backing Randy Bryce Which Could Be Very Bad News for Paul Ryan

[LongTomH]

Bernie Sanders Is Now Backing Randy Bryce—Which Could Be Very Bad News for Paul Ryan:

Randy Bryce took the political world by storm this June when he released a stunning television ad announcing his campaign to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan. Bryce is running for Ryan’s seat in Wisconsin’s southeastern 1st congressional district, which straddles Milwaukee’s metropolitan border.

“I decided to run for office because not everybody’s seated at the table—and it’s time to make a bigger table,” Bryce says in the ad. “If somebody falls behind, we’re so much stronger if we carry them with us. That’s the way I was raised. We look out for each other.”

An Army veteran and an ironworker by trade, Bryce mixes an everyman’s appeal with genuine progressive politics—a stark contrast with Ryan’s straight-laced conservatism. And Bryce received a boost to his progressive credentials last week when he was officially endorsed by Bernie Sanders.

..............//snip

“What Bernie sees in Randy Bryce is a working class progressive that draws a perfect contrast to ‘Wall Street’ Paul [Ryan],” Dinkin says. “Randy wants to guarantee healthcare for all, to rebuild America's roads and bridges and to make the billionaires pay for it. Paul Ryan wants to give billionaires a massive tax cut and make the middle class pay. This endorsement, coming from America's most popular political leader, is a huge deal and proves that this is a top tier race.”

[LongTomH]

1. A change in the political winds?

Ryan beat his Democratic opponent in 2016 by 35 points, so the race currently sitting at single digits represents a significant change in the political winds. The Bryce campaign’s own internal polling shows Bryce winning in 2018 by a 3-point margin—assuming more voters get to know him.

Democrats are currently engaged in what some are calling a civil war over the future of the party and, in many ways, over the future of the resistance to President Trump. Randy Bryce’s campaign offers echoes of the party’s past—of FDR’s ambitious New Deal, of Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty—and potentially signals a new direction for the party’s future.

“We need more working people to run for office. We understand it. We get the struggles of living paycheck to paycheck,” Bryce tells In These Times.

Asked whether his campaign will help inspire more working people like himself to run, he replies, “It’s already happening. People are contacting me. We’re seeing a record number of candidates come out everywhere. And a lot of Republicans that are going to have to fight for their seats see this wave coming, and they’re retiring in pretty big numbers.”

Sanders’ embrace of Bryce is another indicator that progressive challengers are gaining steam in the upcoming election cycle. Rather than giving in to Trump’s demagoguery or Ryan’s austerity, Bryce is trying to prove that what voters are really looking for are commonsense solutions to their problems. While the Right pushes for building a “big, beautiful wall” and enacting tax cuts for the rich, Bryce is countering with proposals for higher wages and jobs building infrastructure—policies that will clearly improve working people’s lives.

[JonLP24]

41. Looks like his campaign ads are doing a good job

He has a progressive campaign ad company working with him.

[Heartstrings]

2. Randy Bryce, Randy Bryce, Randy Bryce!

Say that name 3 times a day! My thanks to you Mr. Sanders! And thanks LongTomH for posting this op. Wisconsin needs all the backing and exposure it can get for this good man.


Randy Bryce, Randy Bryce, Randy Bryce!

[Marie Marie]

3. I want to see smug Ryan go down smug like Eric Cantor

Go Mr Bryce!!

[George II]

12. Eric Cantor lost in a primary to another republican, not in the general election to a Democrat.

[KPN]

42. And?

[iluvtennis]

31. Ditto.

[bobbieinok]

4. Isn't a woman also in the dem primary for Ryan's seat?

[LongTomH]

6. Cathy Myers, a public school teacher and Janesville School Board member

Randy does seem to be ahead going into the Democratic primary next year.

[George II]

15. The primary is still more than nine months from now. No one is "ahead" yet.

[dem4decades]

5. Ryan can work the steel while Randy works

For the people. The ads write themselves.

[LakeArenal]

7. Randy Bryce Randy Bryce

When Howard Dean said we need some new and younger candidates, I think he meant someone like Randy Bryce.

He will be a huge target of smear campaigns and lies. I really think he’s capable to withstand the onslaught.

Few exciting Dems. in Wisconsin. For me, he’s one.

GOTV

[bearsfootball516]

8. I'm not sure how much smearing they can really do

In a way, he's the perfect candidate. He doesn't have tons of political baggage because he's new to politics. And unlike Trump, it's not like he's spent his life as a celebrity with tons of interviews and past soundbites that could come back to haunt him.

It could be really, really hard for the Republican party to smear him because there's just not a lot to go off of...and that could very well work in his advantage.

[YOHABLO]

9. Well if he seems any morsel of a threat, they'll try and stick something on him.

[George II]

18. Not sure, but I believe Cathy Myers is younger than Bryce.

[LakeArenal]

28. I have looked at Cathy Myers..

I think Randy has more charisma. For me very exciting.

[still_one]

10. I would like to think so, however he backed Russ Feingold and that didnt work out too well

[George II]

14. Not many have worked out.

[still_one]

16. Yup

[murielm99]

25. I am glad Bernie is not backing Cathy, then.

His choices seem to lose lately.

I will ask my cousin. She lives in that area.

[LakeArenal]

32. If you back Myers say so...

Bernie has backed as many Democratic winners as any other Democrat. We haven't been on any winning streak for awhile.

[murielm99]

34. I don't back anyone.

I am going to ask my cousin, who has much more of a stake in this.

[JonLP24]

39. They have a progressive ad company doing his campaign shoots

They go for a more a real authentic approach which takes longer to make than a traditional campaign ad and have been getting great reviews centrists have reached out to them but have been turning them down going for progressive candidates.

I believe they are called Win don't remember the rest of their name.

[KPN]

43. Exactly. Thank you.

[Wounded Bear]

11. Not sure how much Bernie backing him helps, but sounds good anyway...

We could use some fresh blood, and a guy with his blue collar creds could help out nationally. Sure would be sweet to seek Ryan go down.

[George II]

20. Don't forget that Cathy Myers, who has also declared her candidacy. Bryce isn't the candidate yet.

[Wounded Bear]

37. I certainly have no objection to a woman taking the seat...

as long as it is a Dem woman, of course.

[George II]

13. Bryce doesn't have the Democratic nomination.

[Me.]

17. Who Does

[George II]

19. No one, the primary is in August 2018, which is still more than nine months away. You know....

....this is eerily reminiscent of some complaining about "anointment"!!!

[Me.]

21. So Jumping The Gun Then.....

[George II]

22. Yes, by a long shot! And from past performances, I'd be worried if I was Bryce.

[Me.]

23. Indeed

the song 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" may apply come 2018.

Back at you....

[LakeArenal]

30. Me thinks you favor Myers.

Great. We need all interested parties.

[Lucky Luciano]

33. Not so much that he favors Myers. More that he needs to knock Bernie down. nt

[LakeArenal]

36. I think so, too.

[George II]

38. Glad you guys can (incorrectly) read my mind.

[LakeArenal]

40. Give my regards to Cathy Myers.

[KPN]

44. No, but he has Bernie's endorsement

which I know doesn't sit well with Bernie haters. But that really doesn't matter. What does is the people of Wisconsin who have a vote in the primary. Looks like they have two good candidates to choose from.

[zentrum]

24. Thank you Bernie!

[LenaBaby61]

26. IF that ruling coming down from the Supreme Court ahead of 2018 ....

Comes back in favor of thuglians where gerrymandering rules the day AGAIN, that slim hog Ryan will more than likely skate on through again unfortunately.

Are Republicans going to try to steal the 2018 election?


Ryan Cooper
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
May 12, 2017

Republicans are not in good shape for the 2018 midterm elections. The party in general is at 53 percent disapproval in the polling averages, which has been getting steadily worse since the election. Democrats should be in a strong position to make large gains in the midterms, just as they did in 2006.

But that's only assuming there are free and fair elections.

There are already signs that Republicans might try to cheat their way to victory. Exhibit A is Thursday's announcement that the White House is setting up a commission to "investigate" voter fraud in the United States — one helmed by the most notorious electoral cheater in the country, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Cheating is going to be sorely tempting, given the depth of political problems Republicans face — the party disapproval rating isn't the half of it. President Trump is only slightly more popular than the party as a whole — making him the least popular recently elected president in the history of polling. Only 21 percent approve of the most recent Republican health-care bill, an already paltry number that will drop precipitously if the bill passes and the reality of throwing tens of millions off their insurance sinks in. And the Comey scandal is already tainting the party yet more.

http://theweek.com/articles/698317/are-republicans-going-try-steal-2018-election

[murielm99]

27. This article is rather old.

It is from May 12. A lot has happened since then.

[LenaBaby61]

35. "It is from May 12. A lot has happened since then."

It's not that old, and what's written within still applies as of November 25th 2017:

Thuglicans are STILL cheaters.

Gerrymandering obviously has to be done by state legislatures. But Kobach is the national champion at vote suppression.

"Kobach will almost certainly recommend national-level measures to suppress liberal votes, and will enable state-level efforts to roll back democracy as well. Whether there are meaningful elections next year may depend on whether such measures can be stopped."

And like I said which is unrelated to the article, that gerrymandering ruling coming in from the Supreme Court ahead of 2018 will set the tone concerning whether or not thuglicans can continue cheating and gerrymandering on top of all of the other voter-suppression methods they'll be trying to use in 2018 against Dems all across this country, and what role the ruskies will be allowed to play in our elections in 2018, is still unknown as of now.

[INdemo]

29. Randy Bryce is a Union Iron Worker and I have seen

interviews with him..Awesome candidate...definitely bad news for Ryan, the Koch Brother's puppet.