Both candidates running in the Democratic primary to take on House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., were arrested outside his office this week.
It’s easy to forget mustachioed ironworker Randy Bryce still has to knock off a primary challenger, but he does. And they were both hauled away in handcuffs for blocking traffic near Ryan’s Racine office on Monday. Bryce and his opponent, Janesville school board member Cathy Myers, sat in the middle of an intersection with a “small group” of protesters opposing the speaker’s immigration policy.
The demonstration demanded Ryan support passage of a clean Dream Act, which protects beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program without dedicating any resources to border security.
Today, @IronStache was arrested protesting outside of @SpeakerRyan‘s office demanding Congress pass a clean DREAM Act now.
Sign our petition. Stand with @IronStache and 690,000 DACA recipients. We need a clean DREAM Act now.https://t.co/Wc6lSIWOT4
— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) March 5, 2018
Cathy was just arrested for standing with @voces_milwaukee & #WI01 immigrant families to demand that @SpeakerRyan call a vote on the #DreamActNow
Video here: https://t.co/JHRzpwTHgv pic.twitter.com/yVLi1reKDu
— Cathy Myers (@CathyMyersWI) March 5, 2018
Efforts to take on Ryan, even well-funded ones like Bryce’s, remain a long shot at best.
Democrats intent on retaking the House of Representatives are debating internally whether there should be an effort to favor electable candidates over high-profile progressives running in red districts like Bryce. Though Bryce’s working-class credentials may have been compelling for a moment, over time he’s demonstrated an allegiance to the far Left. It’s probably telling that in their bids to appeal to the party’s base, both Bryce and Myers felt intentional arrests would be beneficial.
