Say one thing for ironworker and aspiring politician Randy Bryce—he certainly knows how to get your attention with his online activity.
Bryce, a Democrat running to replace Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st district, tweeted that his team found a treasure trove of b-roll video footage from his opponent, Republican Bryan Steil. Bryce wrote that Steil’s team had released the silent video so a super PAC would use it for advertising that would help him win the seat.
Instead, Bryce, who tweets from the @IronStache Twitter handle because of his metal-like facial hair, made his own ad for Steil’s campaign. He titled it the “Life of Bryan,” and it’s set to the kind of ragtime piano jams that would have been commonplace in the silent movie houses of the 1920s.
In the film, Bryce refers to Steil as “Paul Ryan’s former driver and current clone,” and he highlights the theory that Steil can’t win the race unless the Koch Brothers finance him. Bryce also references the idea that Steil will do whatever Ryan and President Donald Trump want, and he writes that Steil is filmed talking to farmers because “my consultants told me I had to talk to farmers so I could look folksy.”
In Bryce’s fantastical short film, he also imagines Steil saying, “Crap, Randy Bryce is going to kick my ass.”
Paul Ryan’s handpicked replacement, Bryan Steil, just released three minutes of silent B roll footage in hopes a right wing Super PAC would use it to make an ad for him.
— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) September 2, 2018
They haven't made one yet, so we made one for them.
Presenting: “The Life of Bryan” pic.twitter.com/woSqXTkmcW
When Bryce first announced his candidacy—before Ryan said he would retire from the House of Representatives—he released an emotional video about his mother and the numerous medications she has to take for her multiple sclerosis. In the video he says, “Let’s trade places, Paul Ryan. You can come work the iron, and I’ll go to D.C.”
Bryce later beat Cathy Myers by 19 points in the Democratic primary to get himself closer to picking up an upset victory. At the moment, a number of pollsters predict that the district leans Republican, though Real Clear Politics says the race is a toss-up.
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