Paul Ryan To Hit Campaign Trail With Trump

After offering a late and tepid Donald Trump endorsement in early June, House Speaker Paul Ryan will join the GOP nominee on the campaign trail in his home state of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin representative will campaign for Trump at an election event for his congressional district that will also feature Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, some top Republican officials in the state and Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican fighting for reelection, notes Politico. Trump will attend the event, though it is not exclusively for his campaign.

The Trump team reportedly requested that Ryan campaign for the GOP nominee, so the House Speaker responded by inviting him to join him and others at the annual First Congressional District Republican Party of Wisconsin Fall Fest, sources told Politico.

Ryan has maintained distance from often-controversial candidate throughout his campaign, and his political advisers say that his main goals in the November election are to defeat Hillary Clinton and to keep Congress under Republican control, so campaigning for Trump is a part of that.

The Wisconsin representative initially held back his endorsement of Trump for several weeks leading up to the Republican National Convention but announced his support for the candidate following a series of meetings between Trump and himself.

“It’s no secret that he and I have our differences,” Ryan wrote in a June 2 op-ed for the GazetteXtra, in which he announced his endorsement. “I won’t pretend otherwise. And when I feel the need to, I’ll continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement.”

Ultimately, Ryan said that he decided to back Trump after determining that the GOP nominee would work with him and sign Republican bills into law once they pass through the legislature.

“For me, it’s a question of how to move ahead on the ideas that I—and my House colleagues—have invested so much in through the years,” Ryan wrote. “It’s not just a choice of two people, but of two visions for America. And House Republicans are helping shape that Republican vision by offering a bold policy agenda, by offering a better way ahead.”

Sources: Politico, GazetteXtra / Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr