Republican Field Grows In Race To Replace Ryan

The Republican field is growing in the race to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan, but he says he won’t immediately endorse anyone.

Ryan said in a speech Friday in Madison that he is deferring on making an endorsement out of respect to people still considering whether to get in before the June 1 deadline.

Kevin Adam Steen, an applications engineer who’s never run for office before, announced Thursday he is running. Also in the race is Jeremy Ryan, a liberal known as a prominent protester in Madison who ran as a Republican against Ryan in 2014 but got only 6 percent of the vote.

Another former Ryan foe, Paul Nehlen, is running after he was banned from Twitter earlier this year for racist and anti-Semitic posts. Ryan’s campaign has said Nehlen is not fit to hold office.

Also registered as a Republican is political newcomer Nick Polce.

Former Ryan aide and current University of Wisconsin Regent Bryan Steil says he will announce his plans for running Sunday.