Ryan challenger raised more than $2M last quarter

The top Democrat challenging Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) raised $2.1 million during the first quarter of 2018, his campaign announced on Monday.

Randy Bryce’s campaign said it has raised $4.75 million since last June and has nearly $2.3 million in cash on hand.

The campaign also said it added 45,000 new donors since the beginning of the year.

{mosads} Bryce’s bid to unseat Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st District began last June with a fundraising campaign that netted more than $100,000 in its first 24 hours.

The ironworker raised $1 million in the third quarter of 2017 and had raised approximately $2.7 million by the end of 2017, according to the Federal Election Commission.  

In March, Bryce began fundraising off of a deleted controversial tweet in which Ryan highlighted a Pennsylvania woman’s $1.50-per-week paycheck increase as a result of the GOP’s tax-reform law.

Bryce is facing a difficult battle against Ryan, who has held Wisconsin’s 1st District for nearly 20 years. 

In January, Ryan’s team announced that the he had raised $44 million in 2017, a record amount for a year without a major election. He transferred $32 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The Speaker, who was also the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, is one of the most well-connected and influential Republicans in the country.

Ryan won the district with 65 percent of the vote in 2016 and President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 10 points in the presidential race.

Ryan’s office last week denied reports that he planned to resign after Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) told a local news station that there was a “rumor” Ryan would step down soon. 

The last Speaker to be voted out by constituents was Rep. Tom Foley (D-Wash.), who lost his reelection bid in 1994.

Bryce is also facing a primary challenger, local school board representative Cathy Myers, but is considered the favorite to win the Democratic nomination.

–This report was updated at 12:10 p.m.