The Scene
Eight years ago, Randy Bryce challenged the Speaker of the House, raised more than almost any other candidate for Congress, and lost. The union ironworker, a longtime Democratic activist, gained national attention for an unscripted, uncautious campaign that endorsed Medicare for All and the abolition of ICE. He was known for his mustache, too, which Democrats learned when they donated to him: “Iron Stache.”
Bryce claimed a sort of victory when then-Speaker Paul Ryan announced his resignation. Once Republicans picked businessman Brian Steil to replace Ryan, they successfully used Bryce’s old arrests and new progressive views against him, holding the seat.
Southeastern Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district is still competitive, though — Trump carried it by just 5 points — and Democrats have put it on their ambitious target list. There’s a chance that the state will be forced, by a court order, to redraw maps, which Republicans see as a threat to Steil. But they’re fairly dismissive about Bryce, who ran behind the ticket in 2018. He jumped on the phone to explain why he thinks a rematch, in this environment, would be winnable. This is an edited transcript of the conversation.
The View From Randy Bryce
Dave Weigel: Why are you running again?
Randy Bryce: It’s just gotten so bad. Somebody has to do something. We didn’t win our race in 2018, but we made a huge splash, and people felt heard, and we encouraged other working class people to run for office. I’ve tried to help them, too, because we need more of us in elected office.
The Republicans have this big, beautiful bill that’s cutting Social Security and Medicare from people, and not enough people are aware of it. I went to a Social Security office this morning. Last month we had an event there, for Social Security Works. I asked the state rep for their union, are any facilities in danger of closing in Racine County? She was like, no, there’s two, and they’re both solid, there’s no plan to cut them. Well, today, I found out that they relocated the one that we were at and moved it several miles away, closer to the interstate. I can’t imagine anybody who needs a walker going there in a snowstorm. And we get a little snow in Wisconsin, you know?
What’s changed for this seat, or your strategy, since 2018?
The map’s better this time. We have UW Whitewater in the district. There’s a possibility of congressional maps being redrawn, thanks to the Supreme Court election, when Susan Crawford. And Bryan Steil is running from people, not having any town halls.
What’s new? I don’t think we should take money from billionaires. So once again, I’m not taking money from fossil fuel companies, Wall Street, corporate PACs, but I’m adding billionaires to it this time, too, because I don’t think that there are, like, good and bad billionaires, I disagree with that.
What did you learn from your defeat last time?
I think we peaked very early in the last campaign, but I learned how to bring people together in that campaign. The last time I ran, I had a primary opponent, and it was sort of like Bernie versus Hillary at the beginning. But we ended up having Hillary and Bernie people working together in our campaign.
A lot of Republican attacks that year were very personal, about your arrest record and DUIs. Won’t the same issue come up this time?
I mean, this is an issue that happened, like, 30 years ago. If you check my record now, that stuff is so old, it’s fallen off. All I have now is, I rented a Dodge Challenger for work with a Hemi engine, I went a little fast, and I got a ticket. And I got one for protesting outside Paul Ryan’s office. That’s still on there.
Have you changed your platform at all from eight years ago? It was very progressive, in that race.
I’m not in favor of using labels. When you hear “Medicare for all,” that paints this picture of what’s called the far left. I don’t picture myself as far left. I’m more of a populist. I want universal health care for everybody, and right now we’re going the wrong direction. In a few months, if not weeks, I’m expecting shelves to be bare. Prices are already getting jacked up. We need to protect our social safety net for when people fall on hard times. We need that more than billionaires need tax cuts. So the issues have changed.
So would you still get to the House and co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill?
I think we do it a disservice now by calling it Medicare for all, because the coverage might not be through Medicare or Medicaid. One thing I’ve thought of was expanding the VA system, start coverage from when a child is born until they go to school. Start off there, keep expanding it, until we meet in the middle and everybody is covered. I don’t expect that you get one bill signed and boom, everything is done.
In 2018, you wanted to abolish ICE. You told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that you feel “vindicated” by how Trump’s been using the agency. Do you still want to abolish it?
What I’m opposed to is any law enforcement agency feeling the need to cover their faces, cover up that they’re law enforcement, and go after people like a union brother and a sheet metal worker from Virginia? That’s law enforcement? With no due process. I’m opposed to not having due process. If ICE is going to stay around, they need to have proper training. They’re arresting mayors and a judge in Milwaukee, who’s a good judge. I don’t want to see any instances of agents jumping people and arresting the people who film them doing it. My dad is a retired cop. I have nothing but appreciation for police and the job that they do. But we can’t have people that are supposed to be law enforcement acting as thugs.
Something that wasn’t as a question in 2018: Does what Israel’s doing in Gaza constitute a genocide?
As a veteran, I’m for peace. I’m opposed to all wars. I hate to see our tax dollars used for destruction. I’m in construction, not demolition. I don’t want to see our money used to blow stuff up.
Does that mean no military funding for Israel or Ukraine?
I’m opposed to all wars. Donald Trump promised that the Ukraine war was going to be over with, before he even took office, and it’s still going on.
Bernie Sanders has been urging working class candidates to run for office, and training them. Are you part of that? Do you have his support?
We’ve had a really good relationship throughout the years. I spoke when he was here in Wisconsin at the anti-oligarchy rally. He’s always encouraged me to run. After the last time he reminded me about losing his first races, including his first race for Congress, when he lost by a couple thousand votes. He was like, don’t give up. And Ro Khanna too. Ro was like, it took me three times to run to win. Don’t give up.