NYT: Paul Ryan Wages Parallel Campaign

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is waging a parallel campaign, according to The New York Times.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s campaign-style video that hit social media last week and his trip to Israel sparked rumors that the establishment GOP may be using him to run a coup at the Republican National Convention in July when the Republican Party selects its nominee.

Ryan’s office, however, denies he’s running a campaign to be the party’s nominee, just as he denied running for Speaker of the House last year to replace former House Speaker John Boehner.

“While Mr. Ryan has repeatedly said that he has no intention of becoming his party’s nominee this year, he is already deep into his own parallel national operation to counter Donald J. Trump and help House and Senate candidates navigate the political headwinds that Mr. Trump would generate as the party’s standard-bearer — or, for that matter, Senator Ted Cruz, who is only slightly more popular,” New York Times’ Jennifer Steinhauer writes.

“He is running a parallel policy campaign,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told The New York Times, which reports Ryan is shaping the agenda that he wants to roll out before the convention, focusing on economic issues and poverty.

“I’m a big fan of Paul,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) stated. Sessions endorsed and serves as an advisor to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

“He’s a good person and he’s smart, but issues like trade and immigration are going to be important, and I don’t think anybody gets the Republican nomination that’s not in sync with a substantial majority of the American people on those two key issues,” Sessions added about Ryan.