Senate hopeful Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) ripped the Democratic Party, contending it has a poor track record of strategic political decisions.
Alluding to the lack of national Democratic reinforcements for his Buckeye State battle against Republican J.D. Vance despite tight polling, Ryan threw shade at the top brass of his party and added that his distance from it will give him a “level of independence” if he wins.
LIZ CHENEY SPURNS JD VANCE AND BACKS TIM RYAN IN OHIO’S SENATE RACE
“The national Democratic Party has never been good at strategic political decisions,” Ryan told CNN bluntly when pressed about the lack of Democratic firepower directed in his race. “Thank God that I have enough experience that I built this campaign not needing them, and we really don’t want them at this point.”
Throughout the homestretch of the midterm election cycle, Ryan has grappled with the lack of party investment in his Senate race. At one point, he explained that he was not inviting President Joe Biden on the campaign trail because he was “really not inviting anybody” when pressed with questions about the lack of Democratic star power stumping for him.
“The national Democratic party has never been good at strategic political decisions,” Tim Ryan says. “Thank god that I have enough experience that I built this campaign not needing them, and we really don’t want them at this point.” pic.twitter.com/YAzngiPRDO
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 3, 2022
He has been noncommittal about backing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to be the top Democrat in the upper chamber and sought to cast himself as a maverick.
The 10-term congressman has a history of bucking his party, having suggested this year that Biden shouldn’t run for reelection and underscoring his disagreements with the Democrats on student loan forgiveness, Title 42, and other hot-button topics. He also unsuccessfully challenged Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for party leadership in the House back in 2016.
Seeking to brandish an appeal to working-class voters in a Rust Belt state, Ryan has also scorned strategists in his party who appear keen on sticking to courting highly educated voters. During his CNN interview, Ryan was asked about an Ohio woman who is opting to vote for Republicans because she feels they are stronger on the economy.
“The National Democrats’ problem is that a woman who’s having economic problems just outside of Toledo, Ohio, is looking to the Republican Party for some help, and the Republican Party is doing nothing but defending extremists who want to overthrow the government and undermine our democracy,” Ryan replied.
“That’s a problem that the National Democratic Party has. I would say to her we have to cut their taxes,” he added.
When pressed about Arizona gubernatorial contender Katie Hobbs’s decision not to debate her Republican foe, Ryan prodded his fellow party members not to be afraid of entering conservative spaces to talk with right-leaning voters.
“Have some guts,” Ryan said. “People are tired of the hate, tired of the anger, tired of the fear, tired of the division. But you need leaders who can go into an environment like a Fox News townhall as a Democrat and say, ‘Look, we all love each other. We gotta care about each other. We need forgiveness. We need reconciliation.'”
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Ryan is trailing Vance by 2.2 percentage points in the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.
