Democrat Randy Bryce, who is challenging House Speaker Paul Ryan for his House seat, will be the official guest of another member of the Wisconsin congressional delegation. | Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Politicon Ryan challenger to stare at him from gallery at State of the Union

The State of the Union is: trolling.

Democrat Randy Bryce will be sitting in the House gallery, but he hopes the shot from the State of the Union that people back in his Wisconsin district pay attention to is House Speaker Paul Ryan applauding in the frame behind President Donald Trump.


“They’re working together, and the fact that they’re going to be standing so close to each other — Paul Ryan is literally going to have Donald Trump’s back — which is pretty much the way it’s been going for this past year,” said Bryce, who’s running against Ryan for his House seat back in Wisconsin.

The appearance will be paired with a new ad Bryce will air during the coverage of the speech on MSNBC attacking Ryan for working with Trump on the tax bill. Bryce's campaign says 30 of the spots for the ad buy are in Wisconsin, but there are five additional spots airing in Seattle and San Francisco, in an acknowledged attempt to appeal to potential donors to counter Ryan's own national fundraising base.





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Bryce is the official guest of Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) who’s been holding supplemental town halls in Ryan’s district for months. They cooked up the stunt to push the idea that Ryan has been an absent presence in the district, ducking public events.

“Let me be a reminder of the district that he has decided not to represent for the last couple of years,” Bryce said. “I’m not coming here to do anything disruptive. I’m coming here to go back to the 1st district and let them know what’s going on, because Paul Ryan won’t do that.”

Ryan’s fellow Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner called the invitation “disrespectful and out of bounds.”

Bryce, sitting in a hotel lobby shortly after arriving in Washington on Monday night laughed that off.