MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on Rep. Mark Pocan inviting House Speaker Paul Ryan’s challenger to the State of the Union (all times local):
6:55 p.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Democratic opponent Randy Bryce is paying to run a television ad before the State of the Union speech in Wisconsin and two other states.
Advertising Analytics says Bryce is spending $3,000 to run the ad in Wisconsin on MSNBC and CNN. But Bryce is also spending $500 to run it on MSNBC in Seattle and $1,000 in San Francisco.
Bryce’s campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about why he was paying to run the spot outside of Wisconsin.
But Wisconsin Republican Party spokeswoman Alec Zimmerman says Bryce was forgetting Wisconsin voters to court out-of-state donors.
Zimmerman says “Randy Bryce should be ashamed that he’s decided to spend his money on getting to know West Coast liberals instead of voters in the First District.”
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6:30 p.m.
Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner says Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan’s inviting a Democratic challenger to House Speaker Paul Ryan to the State of the Union speech is “disrespectful and out of bounds.”
Pocan invited union iron worker Randy Bryce to hear President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday. Sensenbrenner says the House chamber during the speech is “not a venue to score cheap political points.”
Sensenbrenner says Pocan is trying to “sow political discourse and deepen a divide in an already fractured political environment.”
Pocan says that Sensenbrenner and other Republicans “have zero credibility to discuss the state of political discourse in America or what is disrespectful.”
Bryce and Democratic Janesville school board member Cathy Myers are running to take on Ryan.
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4:18 p.m.
A Democratic challenger to House Speaker Paul Ryan will be attending President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address.
Union iron worker Randy Bryce was invited to attend Tuesday’s speech as a guest of Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the congressional district that neighbor’s Ryan’s in southern Wisconsin.
Bryce is also airing a television ad prior to the speech hitting Ryan for working with Trump on passing the federal tax overhaul.
Bryce sometimes goes by the nickname “Iron Stache.” He’s cultivated a national following and raised money from around the country as he tries to knock off Ryan.
Janesville school board member Cathy Myers is also running as a Democrat.
Ryan has not said definitively whether he will seek re-election, saying he’ll make a final decision this spring.
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