The candidates for Ohio’s next U.S. Senate could not be more different: a millionaire executive who left his state to make bank in Silicon Valley, or a statesman who is a hometown boy who has never left his roots.
Tim Ryan currently serves as the United States Representative for Ohio’s 13th congressional district. He has been in office since 2003. Previously, Ryan served half a term in the Ohio Senate from 2000 to 2002. He has previously challenged Rep. Nancy Pelosi as party leader of the House Democrats in Washington and he was also a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination before ending his campaign to run for re-election in his home district.
J.D. Vance served in the Iraq War as a Marine. He’s also worked as a venture capitalist. He’s known best for his memoir Hillbilly Elegy which attracted significant attention during the 2016 election. There’s not really much more to say about his resume, because most of his time has been spent out of Ohio making millions.
Ryan and Vance are facing off in one of this year’s hottest Senate races for the open seat in Ohio; a state that former President Donald Trump carried with more than 53% of the vote in 2020. As of Wednesday morning, FiveThirtyEight has Ryan and Vance tied.
But when we cast our votes for Ohio’s next U.S. Senator to replace retiring Senator Rob Portman next month, the choice is clear: Ohio needs an ass-kicker, not an ass-kisser.
While Ryan has not been afraid to go against his own party’s establishment, having challenged Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the chair she occupies and taking notable stances against some of President Joe Biden’s key policy ideas.
“I’ve disagreed with Biden on the student loan. I’ve disagreed with Biden on a lot of other issues, Title 42 and these other issues, [I’ve] been very clear,” Ryan told news media recently, adding that he’d like to see Biden “go down” to the southern border to address the “huge issue” related to the influx of migrants. The Congressman made headlines when he broke with the White House last month by saying that Kamala Harris was “absolutely wrong” for claiming that the U.S.-Mexico border is “secure.”
While Republicans worry about losing the Senate this year, they are quick to come up with unfounded allegations that Ryan has “voted with Joe Biden 100% of the time.” — something that, quite frankly, we have gotten tired of hearing J.D. Vance spew. We literally groan and roll our eyes each time he spouts it off because it simply is not true. In fact, Ryan has supported former President Trump’s policies, on issues like trade, in the past.
“When Trump renegotiated NAFTA, I was on the whip team in the House of Representatives to whip votes in support of [President Trump’s] renegotiation …. I supported his defense budgets because we do need a strong military to combat China and Russia,” Ryan has said.
Tim Ryan has stayed consistent on his policies, views, and stances; not being afraid to break away from his party or big-dollar donors, while the same cannot be said for his opponent.
When Vance and Ryan faced off toe-to-toe in the Nexstar T.V. debate in early October, Ryan repurposed a comment made by Trump in a rally that described the Vance-Trump relationship. The former President said on national T.V., “J.D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support so much.” Like a torpedo, Ryan redeployed the former President’s words to argue that his opponent lacks the backbone necessary in Washington: “We need leaders who have courage to take on their own party, and I’ve proven that, and he was called an ass-kisser by the former president,” Ryan said. “Ohio needs an ass-kicker, not an ass-kisser.”
Flipping is a common theme for Vance: previously, Vance was a self-proclaimed “never Trumper.” That, of course, changed, when the venture capitalist went to Mar-a-Lago earlier this year, begging on his knees and kissing the ring of the 2020 election denier. Vance had previously called Trump an “idiot,” “reprehensible,” and “noxious.”
In their first debate earlier this month, Ryan blatantly confronted Vance for being a hypocrite: “Can you imagine one guy saying out of one side of his mouth he’s pro-cop, and out of the other side of his mouth he’s raising money for the insurrectionists who were beating up the Capitol police?” — it’s true: Vance tweeted a link raising money for a man who was recently put behind bars for his role in brutally beating law enforcement on January 6, 2021. When Vance is going against the police much like many in the Democratic party, Ryan has voted to send hundreds of millions of dollars to Ohio to increase law enforcement funding.
Before running for office for the first time this year, Vance said, “It’s not that we have this terrible trade deal with China,” before flipping and telling Crain’s Cleveland Business that “And you know, we lost all the jobs to China and to Mexico and to other places.”
Ryan, on the other hand, has stayed consistent with his views.
As our country continues to grapple with the effects of globalization and automation and the challenges of the 21st Century economy, putting people back to work continues to be Ryan’s number one priority as a member of Congress. Ohio and the country needs fundamental changes that result in innovative, broad-reaching legislation that will grow the economy, give our children the skills they need to succeed in the future, reward businesses that keep jobs in the United States, create a level playing field for American workers in the global market; and that’s what Tim Ryan has shown time-and-time again.
The health and well-being of our nation’s active servicemen, servicewomen, and veterans are extremely important to Ryan. Unfortunately, military mental health patients around the country are still having trouble accessing quality treatment. This is inexcusable. As Co-Chair of the Military Mental Health Caucus, Ryan has worked closely with his Congressional colleagues — including republicans — to demand that military members and veterans suffering from mental illnesses receive the same standard of treatment.
After Monday’s debate in Youngstown, the candidates held a “media gaggle” with reporters. Vance took questions for four minutes, dodging the answers and walking away while reporters shouted questions. Ryan, on the other hand, stayed with reporters for nearly 15 minutes until every single journalist exhausted their questions.
What Tim Ryan said is true: Ohio deserves an ass-kicker, not an ass-kisser. The state — and the country — needs someone who will not flip-flop simply because they want to pander to donors, big names, or what may be popular for a particular voting base.
That is why the Guardian proudly endorses Tim Ryan for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat.
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In line with tradition, editorials are unsigned and intended to be viewed as representing the views of the senior leadership of NewsPatrol, Inc. and Scioto Valley Guardian’s editorial staff.