In the race for the seat of speaker of the house Paul Ryan of Wisconsin’s first congressional district, one democratic candidate has received great national attention. But there is another Democrat in the race: Kathy Myers, though low profile, has a high-powered campaign.
Myers is a member of the school Board and part-time teacher from their home town of Ryan in Janesville, Wisconsin. It works in a tight race against the other candidates Democratic Randy Bryce, an ironworker and Union leader, who goes by “IronStache”.
Bryce took most of the political oxygen in the democratic race so far; he got in the early rounds of approval Bernie Sanders and other progressive groups, and the national Democrats was followed by Democratic congressional campaign Committee recently added Bryce to his “red blue” list. And he attracted millions still putting it in good condition to take on any Republican emerges from the primary to replace Ryan, who announced Wednesday that he is retiring at the end of his term.
But Myers is not embarrassed.
“I feel that my chances are good,” she told me how she came to Milwaukee after the end of the day of training. “Oh my God, I went against Paul Ryan with a guy who had $10 to $11 million sitting in the Bank, he could write a check on it at any time. It didn’t bother me, so why fundraising Randy to embarrass me?”
The fact that Ryan withdrew from the race may create new opportunities for Myers. Bryce spent most of the campaign attacking Ryan as the leader of Republican party efforts to repeal the affordable care act and pass massive tax cuts. Ryan a pension and the Republicans trying to replace him, it might give Myers more chance to get your own message.
She has donated about 800000 $and says that she is building a strong campaign to take on Bryce in the Democratic primary in Wisconsin in August.
There isn’t much daylight between Myers and Bryce to the questions; both are strong progressives. Myers is the selection of her local political experience; she won several races for the school Board Janesville. When I asked her about making the leap from school Board to Congress, she said she sees the move into the house with us as a natural next step for the public service.
“I won the privilege to serve my community on the school Board Janesville, but I really see that Congress is a continuation of my ability to have a positive impact on the lives of people,” she said. “I knew it would be difficult. We still have to work every day.”
I spoke with Myers about the challenges of balancing work and agitation why she got into the race in the first place, and how the Democrats can win the trump votes Wisconsin in 2018.
Our conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Ella Nielsen
What are your thoughts About the retirement of Ryan?
Cathy Myers
I heard that this morning, when I drink coffee and read the newspaper, and I started to get messages on the phone about it. I think my first thought: what a wonderful opportunity for the voters and the people who live in the first congressional district, to finally get some insight into what they have been deprived for a very long time.
Ella Nielsen
You live in Janesville, right? That’s where the dynamics of life.
Cathy Myers
I do.
Ella Nielsen
How often is he around?
Cathy Myers
I run into him on occasion. I think he only comes on weekends. I think I don’t know how to judge it whether it is often given everything he does. But you can usually see a bit more of the presence of intelligence outside his house on the weekends that he was home.
Ella Nielsen
So, backup why you decided to run this year?
Cathy Myers
I announced back in June, and I decided to run because I think I’m the best person to represent the people of the first congressional district. I’m an English teacher, and I understand the obstacles and challenges that working class and middle class people face. I think I can fully review them. There are things that happened that made me consider running and there were things that I would very specifically.
One of those things was the choice of Betsy DeVos as the Minister of education. I’m an English teacher in high school; I have 24 years of experience in the classroom. And I’m still teaching, by the way. I teach part-time this year.
Ella Nielsen
How are you balancing that?
Cathy Myers
I used to work. When I became a mother, I quit and opened a public day care from my home, so I could be with my kids more, and also because I couldn’t afford daycare with what I paid. When my daughter was 1 year old, and I’m still running the kindergarten, and I had a son who was 2 and I worked from 5 am to 5 PM, I went back to graduate school. I worked for 12 hours minimum a day on my job, and of course, I had my family and my children to care. I am very good at using and squeezing every minute of the day to get things done.
But back to Betsy DeVos, it is the enemy of enlightenment. I truly believe that. It will defund public education and deny a quality education for our children. I feel especially sensitive to this issue and felt as though my experience will be very important in Congress to resist what it is trying to do.
Ella Nielsen
Paul Ryan has represented his district since 1998. His retirement changes in the calculation of the race, but how can you win you think this district is for Democrats?
Cathy Myers
Well, I thought that the area was to win, even when Paul Ryan was still in the office when we still thought that it works. I sincerely believe that the people got to the point where they become confused and distressed by the service of Paul Ryan and his lack of leadership. They were incredibly upset that he will not return to the area to talk to them about what is happening and how it can help them.
Indeed, it seems that the only people he loved to talk, there were people that wrote him big checks. I knew it would be difficult. And by the way, even if it is not in the race, it will still be hard. We still have to work every day. So I’m not taking anything for granted, even if it does not exist.
I believe that people want a public servant. They want someone who listens to them, who actually go and look them in the eye and talk about their qualifications and their vision to help them and will listen to the concerns that they have. That’s why I think I’d make a great representative in the first district.
Ella Nielsen
You think the Democrats can bring back the trump of voters in the district? Or people who were disappointed in the democratic party?
Cathy Myers
I do, because the area at one point went for Obama. He went on tramp [in 2016], but it is not a trump card all that much. I truly believe that people in the County were simply ignored. So vote for trump just to see if he can do something else. Now they have remorse, because they see that they have someone who wants to shake things up; this is a guy who wants to burn things down. They are outraged by the behavior that they see in the White house, corruption and chaos.
We will have a strong information campaign in the country. I have members of my team who are experts in grassroots organizations. And we are going to bring back to this area because we are going to talk to people as they are our neighbors because they are. We will hear from them and listen to them. They will no longer be ignored.
Here’s how we’re going to win this district, and that’s how we’re going to get some of those people who voted for trump, because they want to be heard, and they must be heard.
Ella Nielsen
How do you rate your chances against Randy Bryce in General? It has an incredible amount of endorsements from progressive groups; he’s on the DCCC “red to blue list”; it attracted millions at the moment.
Cathy Myers
I feel that my chances are good. My God, I went against Paul Ryan with a guy who had $10 to $11 million sitting in the Bank, he could write a check on it at any time. It didn’t bother me, so why fundraising Randy afraid of?
I really don’t think it will be a race that is going to be about money; I think the competition will be about whose qualifications are better. This is me, honestly. I was twice elected to the school Board Janesville; I was first place every time. I doubled my voice for the second time I ran, and I did it, going out and talking to people, being visible, being to react to things that concern them.
So I really think that’s going to win it for us. I think fundraising … money is important, of course. But money is not a sign of quality candidates.
Ella Nielsen
So you want to say, you’re going to try to draw more comparison to your experience, what questions? It seems that you and Randy are both pretty progressive.
Cathy Myers
Right. I think that my qualifications exceed it. He lost three times, and never cleared 40 percent. I don’t know why he didn’t win, I just know why I will win, but to come out and talk to people, showing them that I care about the issues that they face.
Ella Nielsen
There was a lot of talk after the special election of Pennsylvania Democrat, Conor lamb made it clear that they do not support Nancy Pelosi as house speaker if the Democrats win. And you have you ever wondered if you are elected?
Cathy Myers
I didn’t give it much thought, because I got so many things on my plate at the moment. But, I certainly respect Ms. Pelosi, and I respect people who step up. I also believe in competition. That’s why I’m not afraid of a primary. When I get there, if there are other people who need to work, I listen to them, and I will do my best to determine who has the best visibility for the Democratic party and for the country.
Ella Nielsen
What do you think the Democratic party needs to do in order to take the house in 2018?
Cathy Myers
I think the party should offer voters the scope of a very strong campaign. I think we have not done a very good job, to make his case to the people. We have allowed others to change the conversation. I think we should go back to good old grass-roots campaigning. It’s not just propaganda, how about a good old service at the grassroots level? We need to serve the people of this country.
Sourse: vox.com
