New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign manager in his 2013 mayoral race, Bill Hyers, is working for Bryce’s campaign. | Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo De Blasio to hold fundraiser for Paul Ryan challenger

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is hosting a fundraiser in New York City next month for Randy “IronStache” Bryce, the Wisconsin Democrat running against House Speaker Paul Ryan.

The fundraiser, which will take place on March 7, will be co-hosted by the Working Families Party and the Retail Wholesale and Department Storeworkers’ Union, and will be held at the union’s offices. The minimum suggested donation is $100.


Bryce, an Army veteran and ironworker, became an instant celebrity among the progressive left last summer after releasing a video that highlighted his mother and her health struggles, and the state’s blue collar workers.

De Blasio’s decision to host a fundraiser for Bryce, a candidate in a district far from New York, comes as de Blasio seeks to fulfill a pledge he made after Donald Trump was elected president last year to involve himself in this year’s midterm elections. This is de Blasio's first fundraiser for a congressional candidate.

The mayor has also made no secret of his desire to play a larger role on the national stage, despite a badly-fumbled bid to become a kingmaker in the 2016 Democratic primaries and criticism at home from city residents who argued the mayor should focus on the city’s more localized, but no less pressing problems.

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De Blasio’s campaign manager in his 2013 mayoral race, Bill Hyers, is working for Bryce’s campaign.

"Anyone who cares about the health of New York City and the future of our country knows we must defeat Speaker Paul Ryan. Speaker Ryan is the architect of a tax giveaway that lined the pockets of billionaires and corporations, at the expense of working New Yorkers,” de Blasio said in a statement. “Randy Bryce is an ironworker who understands the pocketbook issues working people and the middle class worry about every day. Randy will go to Washington to put regular, everyday people first, and I am eager to do all I can to support his candidacy.”

Bryce has already raised a significant amount of money, more than $2.6 million as of the most recent filing period, when he reported having $1.3 million in cash on hand. But Paul Ryan has more — as of the most recent filing period, he reported having more than $9.6 million in cash on hand.

In a statement to POLITICO, Bryce attacked Ryan’s donors.

"Paul Ryan has raised over $10 million for this race from the Kochs and billionaires all across the country, so we are happy to have the support of our Working Families Party allies in New York to try to make sure the people of the First District know they have a better choice," he said.

