First Congressional District voters could see a rematch in 2014 when Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, is up for re-election.
Kenosha Democrat Rob Zerban announced Wednesday that he is putting together an exploratory committee to vet his chances in another run at Ryan.
Zerban's announcement comes on the same day that House of Representatives will vote on Ryan's newest budget, which Zerban describes as gutting Medicare and rewarding wealthy Americans.
"Since the election, I have been inundated with phone calls and emails from people all over the First District urging me to come forward again to give the people of Southeast Wisconsin a viable alternative to Paul Ryan," Zerban said in his written release. "My hope is that, over the next few months, we will begin to have a conversation about what the people of the Wisconsin's First District really want: a secure future, not federal austerity."
Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Joe Fadness countered, calling Zerban's 2012 campaign negative, desperate and lacking substance.
"Zerban’s 2012 campaign was light on substance and heavy on misleading falsehoods. If elected, he would be nothing more than a rubber stamp the destructive policies of President Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi’s that have left this nation with record debt, high unemployment and ruinous spending," he wrote in a statement after Zerban made his announcement.
But Zerban pointed out that he is the first Democratic candidate in recent years to give Ryan a more serious run for his money.
"(Zerban's campaign) shaved nearly 20 points off Ryan's average victory margin, even while Ryan was on a presidential ticket with Mitt Romney," the statement reads. "It was the closest 2012 Congressional election in Wisconsin and caused Paul Ryan to lose his home ward, his home town, and his home county."
Fadness shrugged Zerban's assertion off, pointing out Ryan's popularity:
"Congressman Ryan is one of the nation’s leading taxpayer advocates. He has a strong record of working to balance the budget, reduce the tax burden facing the middle class families and give job creators the tools they need to grow the economy.”
Especially since President Ryan will have to clean up this mess created by this failed experiment in 2017.
Ryan's success in getting re-elected has been in a largely uninformed voter base. As they learn more about his infatuation with Ayn Rand, willingness to experiment with other people's secure old ages, and inability to formulate a sensible budget, his base will shrink. He was recently re-elected true, but by a lower margin. Don't worry about him too much if he loses an election in the future. He's a millionaire with a cushy Congressional pension and healthcare plan to look forward to thanks to ignorant voters in his district and the rest of us taxpayers.
America said "no" to Ryan and his extreme right wing ideology, yet he just reintroduced it again in his budget, which is nothing more than a kick to the head of middle class citizens. Zerban has my vote and he stands a decent chance of knocking Ryan off next round!
And FYI - Zerban holds his listening sessions in the evenings when working people can attend, unlike Ryan, who only holds his "listening" sessions during the day when only my grandparents can attend... figure that!!! Have you ever even met Zerban? I have - and he is twice the actual job creator Paul Ryan is claiming to want to be. Maybe Ryan will lose and enter the private sector for once (not as an intern in the family business please) and either create some actual jobs, like Zerban has, or get a real job, like Zerban has had. And BTW, you can stream "The Munsters" on Netflix if Ryan loses and you have to get your fix of Eddie Munster/Paul Ryan.
Did Zerban play Whitey on Leave it to Beaver?
Go on, pretend that had nothing to do with it. Lol Meanwhile, elections experts were somewhat surprised he survived his unique challenge, because most people would have questions about voting twice.
Your analytic skills and completely absent from most things you type. You literally just spit things out hoping they stick, don't you?