Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund has endorsed Speaker Paul Ryan’s primary challenger businessman Paul Nehlen for the Republican nomination of Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district.

“[I]t is only after careful consideration, a thorough review of the incumbent’s record, much discussion with our grassroots activists, and a careful vetting of the challenger that we can announce our endorsement of Paul Nehlen for the GOP nomination for Congress in Wisconsin’s 1st district,” Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund Chairman Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement.

Martin said the decision to endorse Nehlen over Ryan was “not easy, nor something we take lightly” but added that it was important to stand up for principles.

“We were proud to help stir grassroots opposition to Speaker Boehner for years,” she said, suggesting that the endorsement of Nehlen was similar to their protest of Boehner.

Martin added that Ryan had joined Washington D.C. Republicans by turning their backs on constituents and supporting special interests. She cited Ryan’s support for trade deals like the Trans-pacific Partnership, immigration reform, and failing to back House conservative efforts to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen as evidence of his betrayal.

“Paul Nehlen gets it,” she added. “He knows the solution is not more government, but less; not more power in Washington, but less; not more influence for the Chamber of Commerce, but less. He will fight to lower taxes and reduce spending, and get government out of the way of the entrepreneurs who create jobs and grow our economy.”