Randy Bryce, the Democratic challenger attempting to claim Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s Wisconsin House seat, has been discovered to carry a litany of prior arrests.
Democratic House candidate Randy Bryce is campaigning to capture Ryan’s seat in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. The perennial candidate has earned numerous endorsements from national Democrats who believe he can flip the district. However, Bryce has been discovered to have been arrested a number of times, according to a breaking CNN report. Arrests include driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, and driving with a suspended license.
Bryce was arrested in 1991 for marijuana possession, property damage, theft and trespassing — the theft and trespassing charges were later dropped. He was arrested again in 1998 for drunk driving. He was later arrested three more times for driving with a suspended license and registration in his home state of Wisconsin.
“There is no excuse for what I did 20 years ago when I got behind the wheel and operated under the influence. I made a mistake and I regret it. I’ve worked very hard to learn from my mistakes so I can be a man my son can be proud of. I’m not perfect, but I know the struggles working people go through. I understand the mistakes that any of us can make. I’ve certainly learned from mine,” Bryce said in a Friday statement to CNN.
This isn’t the first time that Bryce’s past has come to haunt him as he attempts to become a U.S. representative.
Media investigations revealed the Wisconsin Democrat refused to pay a former girlfriend money he owed her, even defying a judge’s order. Bryce eventually did pay off that loan — nearly 15 years later and only after a local reporter contacted his campaign in November 2017 about the matter. Bryce has also been criticized for failing to make outstanding child support payments after launching his congressional campaign. (RELATED: Meet The ‘Blue-Collar’ Democratic Candidate Beloved By Environmentalists In Wisconsin)
The GOP was quick to respond to the latest revelations.
“Who would’ve known that when Randy Bryce said he had experience with iron that he was talking about a jail cell?” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Chris Martin in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Bryce has been arrested more times, the recent ones pertaining to his political activism: once for occupying GOP Sen. Ron Johnsons’s Milwaukee office in October 2011, and another time in March 2018 for blocking traffic as he and others protested against Ryan.
Bryce is currently running in the Democratic primary against Janesville School Board member Cathy Myers. The primary date is on August 14, with Bryce as the heavy favorite to win. Ryan, after two decades of service in the House of Representatives, announced in April that he would not seek re-election.
Ryan endorsed Bryan Steil, a former aide, to succeed him in Wisconsin’s 1st District.
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