Who Is Randy Bryce? Meet Democrat Aiming To Take Down Paul Ryan In 2018

Wisconsin Democrat Randy Bryce began his first campaign ad going right for the jugular: he attacked the incumbent Wisconsin congressman, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and portrayed himself as the Anti-Ryan candidate.

"Let’s trade places," Bryce addressed Ryan at the end of the ad, which was uploaded to YouTube June 18. "You can come work the iron, and I’ll go to D.C."

The Democratic hopeful is not just an upstart politician, he's running on an image as a blue-collar every man: a union leader, a cancer survivor an ironworker, a community activist, an Army veteran and single dad.

READ: Health Care Failed Because Of Trump, Not Paul Ryan, Americans Say In Poll

Twitter users immediately took to his message of working class hero as a template for the party going forward. They also christened Bryce with his own hashtag: #ironstashe thanks to his prominent mustache and roots in the ironworking industry.

"If Democrats have any brains at all this will be every 2018 ad," tweeted Paul Blest.

Bryce attacked Ryan on two platforms that Democrats have hinted at, but have yet to capitalize on with a congressional win. First, he linked Speaker Ryan to President Donald Trump and then linked Ryan to the Republican's unpopular health care plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The opening scene of the ad summarized both these lines of attack. The first image showed Trump and Ryan in the Rose Garden laughing and shaking hands after the passing of the American Health Care Act on May 4. The ad cuts from Ryan saying "everybody doesn't get what they want" to Bryce talking to his mother — who has multiple sclerosis — about the multiple drugs she needs to take to deal with the painful disease.

Following the ad, Bryce got a boost from the national media and made the rounds on the national news cycle giving two interviews on MSNBC in one week. He said on "not doing anything for the people of the first congressional district" and pointed out that the Speaker has been absent from the Wisconsin district for over 600 days.

READ: Paul Ryan To Quit Over Health Care Bill Failure? Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro Asks Him To Step Down

In an in-depth interview with Esquire published Wednesday, the website talked to Bryce after his campaign kicked off June 24 at United Autoworkers, Local 72 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

"In the last election, there was this thirst for this Donald Trump-sounding, working class populism," he said. "It was there. Guys were, like, 'He's going to help us.' I mean, come on. A billionaire is going to help you — a guy who has a history of screwing his workers."

"And there are some guys who worked on jobs of his," he continued. "We had a crew when I was working on Northwestern Mutual, we had a crew from Local 63 from Chicago who had worked on Trump Tower in Vegas, and just hearing stories about stiffing the workers. I mean, come on. Really?"

Despite the enthusiasm, the district is not going to be an easy win for Democrats. It goes from southeastern Wisconsin — from the city of Janesville in the west to the east on Lake Michigan, south of Milwaukee. In the 2016 election, the district went for Trump by 11 percentage points last fall. Ryan won by 35 points. It hasn't voted for a Democratic representative since 1993.