Paul Ryan— still ducking the voters of WI’s 1st Congressional District

Mt. Pleasant, WI—Paul Ryan has avoided debating Ryan Solen since the Democratic nominee first challenged him after the Wisconsin primary 81 days ago.  Solen arranged and paid for a venue today and had an invitation to Paul Ryan’s campaign office hand delivered almost two weeks ago. Mike Daly of WBEL radio agreed to moderate. Less than 24 hours prior to the debate, Paul Ryan’s campaign informed the media that the Speaker would not be there. Paul Ryan never informed Solen’s campaign directly—Solen learned the Speaker would not participate from a staff member who had been told by multiple members of the media.

In the absence of Paul Ryan, Solen chose to answer questions from Mike Daly, the audience, and viewers on Facebook Live. He stated, “I am disappointed Paul Ryan decided he was not going to be here. We’ve been planning this since the primaries were over and to find out he decided was going to go and fundraise for other people rather than talk to people in his district is ridiculous. This is a man who claims he represents us. This is a man who claims he is doing all these wonderful things for us. Yet, he doesn’t have time in his schedule to give us two hours to come talk, discuss issues, and tell us what he plans to do in Congress that’s going to help us. It’s not acceptable.”

Moderator Mike Daly noted, “As a journalist I am very disappointed that the Speaker of the House couldn’t make time for a veteran let alone a Democratic candidate. I don’t appreciate the way that the Ryan campaign handled this whole situation. I thought waiting until the day before until the debate was scheduled to begin was an act of cowardice, quite frankly.”

Paul Ryan is running all over the country because he is afraid of Ryan Solen and his constituents asking him questions he does not want to answer, particularly regarding his wishy-washy support of Republican nominee for president Donald Trump. That wishy-washy support may be a key to his undoing: many Trump voters want Ryan’s full-fledged support of his party’s nominee while Republicans who do not like Trump want Ryan to drop his Trump endorsement entirely. Talk in D.C. has turned from if Paul Ryan will resign or be forced out as speaker to when and who will replace him. (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/paul-ryan-potential-successor-230407)

Solen said, “He is Speaker of the House and the question is, is he representing our interests,” said Solen, “and, the answer is no. He is not. He’s spending all his time focusing on whether there’s an ‘R’ next to a person’s name if they’re sitting in office.”

On November 8th, Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District will have an opportunity to divest Paul Ryan of his job. Iraq war veteran Ryan Solen believes in serving his country and doesn’t care if there’s an “R” or a “D” next to someone’s name, he is seeking to represent the entire district and will work across the aisle for the good of Wisconsin and the United States. He campaigns in the district daily and will continue to do so until the election.

About Ryan Solen

Ryan Solen is an Army veteran of the war in Iraq and is seeking to represent Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. He is a Digital Forensic Specialist and Computer Security Analyst. He is a married father of four and enjoys reading, writing, doing karate with his family, and relieves stress with his vintage Lego collection.

He is the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s Nominee to run for the U.S. House of Representatives to replace Paul Ryan. For more information, please visit www.solenforcongress.com

Committee to Elect Ryan Solen for Congress

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.