UW Regent Bryan Steil announced Sunday his intention to run to replace retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan in
Without a serious primary challenger, Steil enters the race as the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in a district that has elected a Republican for two straight decades.
"I want to take my problem-solving skills to Congress. I think they need problem solvers," Steil said during his announcement. "I want to take our Wisconsin work ethic and my problem-solving experience to Washington's non-stop crisis factory.”
Steil, of a prominent Janesville family, was a lawyer representing manufacturing companies in southeastern Wisconsin before being appointed to the Board of Regents by Gov. Scott Walker in 2016.
A former aide to Ryan himself, Steil had received the early backing of many state GOP figures.
“In fighting for reforms in the UW System, Bryan has not been afraid to buck the established order amongst Regents and Systems Administrators,” said state Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, in a statement Thursday. “Bryan Steil is one of the few Regents I can count on keeping his word to fight for the best interests of the taxpayers and tuition-paying families.”
But even in the historically safe Republican district, with a retiring incumbent coinciding with a potential “blue wave,” Democrats smell blood in the water.
Veteran and labor organizer Randy Bryce
Bryce’s spokesperson called Steil “part of the institutional Republican swamp,” while Myers claimed that he would be "another rubber stamp in Washington.”
Building off several upset victories in Wisconsin and around the country, state Democrats hope the surprises won’t stop in Janesville.
