Bryan Steil, a former staffer for House Speaker Paul Ryan, announced over the weekend his candidacy for the Wisconsin lawmaker’s congressional seat and is already perceived as the Republican front-runner in the race.
Steil, 37, was appointed to the University of Wisconsin’s Board of Regents by GOP Gov. Scott Walker in 2016. He also works as general counsel for the Milton corporation’s NEX Films.
“The chattering class in Washington gets paid to identify problems. For the past nine years, in manufacturing, I got paid to solve problems,” Steil told attendees at a campaign event at Performance Micro Tool in Janesville, Wis., on Sunday. “I want to take my problem-solving skills to Congress. I think they need problem solvers, doers … not talkers.”
Steil once served as Ryan’s legislative aide and adviser in the early 2000s, Ryan’s communications director Jeremy Adler confirmed to the Washington Examiner. He is selling himself as an outsider to the Beltway, but gave high marks to his old boss.
“I want to take our Wisconsin work ethic and my problem-solving experience to Washington’s non-stop crisis factory,” Steil added. “Two and a half years ago, Paul Ryan made us all proud by taking the gavel becoming speaker of the House. Next year, Paul will hand the gavel to someone new. We cannot let Nancy Pelosi take it back.”
Two weeks ago, Ryan announced he would not seek another term in November and will conclude his two decades in Congress in early January.
Republicans in Wisconsin had been struggling to fill Ryan’s seat after former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and former state Rep. Michelle Litjens indicated they were not interested in running.
Randy Bryce is the Democratic front-runner. He is an Army veteran and union ironworker. Bryce’s spokeswoman told Roll Call that Steil cannot relate to blue-collar workers.
“It’s hard to think of anyone less in touch with the struggles facing working families than a third-generation corporate attorney from a politically connected family,” Lauren Hitt said.
Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District went to President Trump over Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, 53 percent to 42 percent.
Update: An earlier version of this story referred to Steil as Ryan’s former “driver.” Adler said “Paul never had a “driver” until USCP [U.S. Capitol Police] had to do it when he became Speaker. Maybe Steil drove him once or something out of the blue, but Paul never had a formal “driver,” and that wasn’t Steil’s job when he worked for Ryan.”
