“Paul Ryan is in a leadership position, what’s he chosen to lead on?” he said. “We have a guy who has never worked as hard for Wisconsin families as he has for his corporate donors. He’s got $10 million in his campaign coffers.”

Nehlen also suggested Ryan secretly wants Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to win in November.

“Speaker Ryan has taken every opportunity to undermine our party’s candidate, and I think that is despicable,” he said. “Paul Ryan is not to be trusted.”

In response, Ryan campaign spokesman Zack Roday sent a statement to the Kenosha News Wednesday evening spotlighting Ryan’s local support.

“Paul Ryan has always been focused on Wisconsin and it shows with the wide range of local support he has received,” he said. “His support comes from Wisconsinites. The same cannot be said of his opponent.”

Ryan has support of the National Rifle Association, Wisconsin Right to Life, all four Republican sheriffs in his congressional district and 16 GOP state lawmakers.

Trump factorRyan’s once low-profile race against relatively unknown Nehlen, an executive at a water filtration company, got a jolt when Trump refused to back Ryan.