Saturday, December 26, 2015

Tea partyers fume over Paul Ryan’s spending bill, seek conservative challenger

The Washington Times ^ | December 24, 2015 | S.A. Miller 

Conservative activists are targeting House Speaker Paul D. Ryan for a primary challenge next year as retribution for the massive spending bill the Wisconsin Republican ushered through Congress at the end of the recent session.
The effort is spearheaded by Wisconsin tea party groups and pro-life activists, who feel betrayed by Mr. Ryan’s nearly $2 trillion package.
The spending bill avoided a government shutdown by surrendering on conservatives’ top priorities, including giving up the fights to defund Planned Parenthood and to block President Obama’s plan to bring at least 10,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S.
The hunt is on to find a suitable conservative candidate who can beat Mr. Ryan, who received 94 percent of the vote in the 2014 primary in his district, which sits against the Illinois border in the southeastern part of the state.
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The Ryan campaign team in Wisconsin has shrugged off the threats, treating them as mere talk in the absence of a viable candidate to mount a challenge in the district.
However, there is precedent for a tea party challenger to topple a member of the House Republican leadership. Eric Cantor, while serving as majority leader, lost his seat in a Richmond, Virginia, suburb in a 2014 primary upset to tea-party-backed Dave Brat.
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(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...

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