HOUSE PARTY: Paul Ryan, in Ohio yesterday, lost in his bid for vice president, but was re-elected to the House. (Reuters)
Paul Ryan was going to win either way.
The Republican vice-presidential hopeful hedged his bet by running for re-election to his congressional seat in Wisconsin — where last night, he was declared the winner for an eighth straight time.
» Obama heads to victory on electoral votes, not popular vote
» Editorial: Obama’s second term
The Plan B virtually ensured that the GOP rising star would continue to duke it out with Democrats in DC, even though he and Mitt Romney lost to President Obama.
Wisconsin state law allowed Ryan to run both races at the same time.
Vice President Joe Biden ran in Delaware for Senate in 2008, at the same time he was running as Obama’s No. 2. When he won both races, he resigned the Senate post.
Ryan, 42 and a father of two, has handily won his US House seat in each election since 1998.
Ryan, who is chairman of the House Budget Committee, won his previous 2010 election with 68 percent of the vote. His took 57 percent in his first election in 1998.
He has remained popular even as his district lost jobs, including 2,500 to the shuttering of a General Motors plant in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wis.
Ryan’s challengers this year included Democrat Rob Zerban, a business entrepreneur who ran a grassroots campaign, and Libertarian Keith Deschler.
Ryan raised more than twice the campaign funding of Zerban — $4.9 million to $2.1 million.
Zerban had hoped his campaign would benefit from the heightened scrutiny Ryan was under as a national candidate, but that never happened.
Ryan caught the attention of the GOP with a budget plan that would reshape Medicare for many people into a voucher-like program. He also wanted to keep in place tax breaks for the wealthy that were set to expire.
Despite his popularity, Ryan wasn’t expected to be able to tip Wisconsin for Romney. The battleground state hasn’t gone to a Republican since Ronald Reagan won it in 1984.Wisconsin last night went to Obama.
With AP