Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

White Supremacist Paul Nehlen Wins 11% In Republican Primary For Paul Ryan’s Seat

White supremacist Paul Nehlen is winning a surprising strong 11% of the vote in the Republican primary for Paul Ryan’s congressional seat.

The notorious racist, who lashed out at critics for being “shekel-for-hire” Jews, was in third place with more than 80% of the votes counted in Wisonsin’s first district, a GOP bastion in the southern part of the state that Democrats hope to flip with Ryan retiring.

Nehlen trailed behind establishment Republican choice Bryan Steil, who led a crowded field with just over 50% of the votes.

Democrats voted for ironworker Randy Bryce, whose working-class charm and distinctive mustache earned him the nickname “Iron Stache.”

Nehlen ran against Ryan in the 2016 GOP primary. The race got national attention when then-candidate Donald Trump refused to endorse Ryan, but the House Speaker won in a 5-to-1 landslide.

Since then, Nehlen has appeared with anti-Semitic figures like David Duke, blamed “Jewish media” for unfair press coverage and published an enemies list of Jewish journalists.

But fellow white nationalists have distanced themselves from Nehlen in recent months because many felt he was being too overtly racist. Nehlen was banned from Gab, a Twitter-like platform popular with the “alt-right,” after revealing the secret identity of a prominent troll with whom he had ideological disagreements.

The state Republican party condemned Nehlen in February after his Twitter ban.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.