Former Dem candidate says he faced cultural barriers on the campaign trail because he is working-class

Former Democratic congressional candidate Randy Bryce told “Rising” on Thursday that he faced cultural hurdles while running for Congress in 2018 due to his working-class status. 

“Initially we did,” Bryce, who ran for former Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R) Wisconsin seat in 2018, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton. 

“Especially because we picked a target that was pretty notable, going after the Speaker of the House, it got us a lot of attention, but it did raise a lot of other issues,” he continued. “Where can I go to get help? And just the fact of looking from a campaign standpoint, like what do actually need to win? You need to figure out how many votes you’re expecting to win, how much it’s going to cost you to get to those votes, and then you have to build a team around you.” 

“If it’s just people that don’t have that kind of experience, you’re going to need somebody is some kind of group to bridge that, to get you access to those resources,” Bryce said. “The DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] is going to be looking out, they want to gain seats, but they’re going to tend to not want to pick working-class people that aren’t able to self-fund.” 

Bryce did, however, get some help from the DCCC during his congressional bid last year, when he got a spot in the committee’s “Red to Blue” district spotlight program. 

The committee says it supported other candidates from working-class backgrounds including Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine), Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), andAbby Finkenauer (D-Ia.). 

“The DCCC flipped the House in 2018, winning a historic number of seats, by investing in candidates across the country, from all socio-economic backgrounds,” DCCC spokesperson Cole Leiter told Hill.TV. “We wish Mr. Bryce the best of luck in his future endeavors.”

Bryce, a former ironworker, is the founder of Iron PAC, which aims to provide funding and resources to working-class candidates who may not have the funds needed to take part in federal races. 

“This is to get people that know what it’s like to live paycheck-to-paycheck, that have relationships with labor, and these are the people we need to make decisions for ourselves,” Bryce said. 

— Julia Manchester