Claremore Student Aims To Become Political Pundit

Emory Bryan, News On 6

CLAREMORE, Oklahoma -- Ryan Lane is a 10th grader at Claremore High school, a seemingly normal kid, with an unusual interest in politics.

"A lot of my grade, this class, isn't very active, but my friends are. We're in the young republicans and try to stay up with it," he said.

His outlet for that interest, for now, is journalism class and the student newspaper, the Tatler, where Ryan started writing opinion columns last year for his teacher, Andi Brankel.

"Right away I could tell he was going to be a political writer, that's mainly what he did, was work on political articles," Brankel said.

Ryan's latest column lays out his conservative views and revolutionary spirit.

Read Ryan's article in the Tatler

"I'm just part of the tea party, I'd like to see myself as part of the news wing of it," he said.

Ryan figures he's about as conservative as they come at his school.

"You just see a lot of liberalism here, and the teachers especially are very liberal, a lot of them are," he said.

His blunt opinions, Lane admits, are meant to get a reaction.

"Kinda, yeah," he said. "I just want to see if I can get under someone's skin or get a response from them."

But while Ryan is just a writer now, he's got a bigger plan.

"I'd like to go into politics rather than write about it, that's what I'd like to do," he said.

His plan is to run for the Second District seat in Congress in 2020. His campaign webpage is already up.  He's predicting at least a ten year conservative trend that starts with this election.

"That's why this election, we're going to see a big tidal wave in this election I think," he said.