Green Beret Conservative Nick Polce faces Paul Ryan Staffer in 1st District GOP Primary Tuesday
By Eva Sorock
Will Paul Ryan’s Constituents Say No to the Swamp This Time?
It’s a challenge of the professional staffer vs. the citizen statesman, and it’s playing out in Paul Ryan’s own district, with his former staffer Bryan Steil running against Nick Polce, a Green Beret and conservative, for the Republican nomination.
Tuesday, Paul Ryan’s constituents in the first district of Wisconsin will tell the country whether their firsthand knowledge of being represented by Speaker Paul Ryan has left them wanting more of the same or a jolt of conservative, Swamp-fighting change.
Polce is taking on what in any other political climate may have been the default choice: Paul Ryan’s staffer Steil. The two are running in a field of five total Republicans vying for the nomination.
Steil, who was endorsed by his former boss Paul Ryan, has curiously omitted any mention of having worked for the polarizing Republican in his website bio.
Polce moved from Texas to the Wisconsin district with one purpose: challenge and defeat Paul Ryan. Polce and his wife, Karla, had their first child in 2016, moved to Wisconsin to join the ranks of our founding non-career politicians, standing up for free enterprise, self-government and real Constitution principles.
He is a strong constitutionalist who says he decided to run for office to defeat career politicians. From Polce’s website:
We must elect individuals who respect the Constitution and who seek to serve not to rule. We have a group of individuals in Congress right now who act like, and believe it is their right to rule.
2018 is the year to rediscover the concept of the citizen statesman. A citizen statesman is the individual that goes to Washington and works to serve the interests of the people of his district. After a few years he then returns to the private sector so that someone else can take his place. Washington is not and should not be a career.In the military we had a saying, “you can delegate responsibility, but you cannot delegate accountability.” In the military, business, and life, failure has consequences. In Washington, we seem to tolerate it.
Despite Wisconsin’s pivotal role in the Trump victory, Paul Ryan’s 1st District Republican apparatus has failed to stand up for bringing conservative values back to their arena in the past — and in this race. So, once again, citizens will have to stand up and defend America without the support of the GOP establishment.
Whoever wins the Republican nomination will face union ironworker Randy Bryce, whose campaign latched onto the Achilles heel of the Steil candidacy: how can you claim to help drain the Swamp when you’re part of it. From Democrat Bryce’s campaign:
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,” said campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt. “A former Ryan staffer and a current Walker appointee, Bryan Steil is part of the institutional Republican swamp that believes we should give tax breaks to the wealthy and pay for it by attacking working people’s retirements and health care.
Wisconsin’s 1st District consists of farmers, factory workers, entrepreneurs and suburbanites, including many former Illinoisans who left their failing state for one that hadn’t yet embraced the defeatist GOP line.
Do Paul Ryan’s constituents want more of the same representation or a break from the Swamp? Tuesday will tell.
