By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff Writer
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said Monday morning that unifying the Republican Party before the November elections is of utmost importance.
It’s why he spoke honestly about his support of Donald Trump last week in Burlington.
Ryan, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, said, “I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now.” He was referring to backing Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, and later added that he hoped to be able to back Trump and unify the part.
Unity, Ryan said Monday in an interview with Southern Lakes Newspapers, is the party’s biggest issue right now.
“We can win up and down the ticket,” Ryan said. But, he added, in order for that to happen, Trump and the leaders of the Republican Party will have to find common ground.
“I feel good, because I was being honest,” Ryan said of the CNN interview, which was filmed at Veterans Terrace in Burlington. Ryan came to the area for a kickoff rally on behalf of Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who is also seeking re-election this fall.
Ryan said he hadn’t expected the race to the Republican presidential ticket to end as soon as it did, and said pretending that there was unity would be ignoring the problems that exist.
Following the interview over the weekend, former 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin blasted Ryan, saying his political career was “over” and that she would back Ryan’s primary challenger in Wisconsin, Paul Nehlen.
Ryan said he wasn’t worrying about those comments, though, as “people here know who I am, what I stand for,” and he would rather endure an “awkward moment” than sit and pretend everything was all right within the Republican Party when it is not.
“We can’t afford a third Obama term, which is what Clinton would be,” he said. “I would rather have awkward moments in the media like this than pretend we’re unified and then go into the election at half strength.”
Mobile office
Ryan used Monday’s round of media interviews to tout his mobile office, which was headed out Monday.
“I love this part of our office,” Ryan said. “This helps me get out to every community in this district.”
Ryan said the mobile office allows him to see constituents that might not otherwise be able to get to his offices in Racine, Kenosha and Janesville. He said this is important for senior citizens who may need help resolving issues with Medicare.
“We can take their documents, scan them, and bring them back to our offices to deal with them,” said Ryan, who added that the mobile office also allows his staff to spend more time in small towns and rural areas.
A full list of Ryan’s mobile office stops can be found in a sidebar adjacent to this story or online at www.myracinecounty.com.
He has stops scheduled in several area communities in May and June.
Local visits
In addition to his staff’s mobile office tour, Ryan will be in Rochester on Memorial Day for the 150th anniversary of that village’s Memorial Day parade.
“I love Rochester,” Ryan said. “It’s a great community and a great setting. People are very patriotic and I just love the setting for this event.”
Details on the Memorial Day event in Rochester will be announced in coming weeks.
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