Buckeye State Senate hopeful Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) foreshadowed that he may make a habit of bucking his party should he win his bellwether Senate race.
A self-described “underdog,” Ryan was noncommittal about voting for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to be the top Democrat in the upper chamber and underscored that he would “be beholden to absolutely nobody” in the Senate.
OHIO’S DRUG CRISIS LOOMS LARGE IN ITS SENATE RACE
“I don’t know if I’m going to vote for Chuck Schumer” to lead the Senate, Ryan told Politico. “I will get to the Senate and be beholden to absolutely nobody, right? And I will be, probably, a royal pain in the a** when I get there. And that may be a reason why we’re not getting help.”
Ryan has suggested that President Joe Biden should not run for reelection in 2024. Throughout his campaign, he has highlighted his disagreements with the president on student loans, Title 42, and other topics, seeking to cast himself as a maverick of sorts within the Democratic Party.
At one point, he said that he was not inviting Biden to stump for him on the campaign trail and that he is “really not inviting anybody” before throwing shade at his rival Republican J.D. Vance for calling upon big-name GOP stars to boost him in the heated contest.
“We don’t necessarily need them to come in here,” Ryan told Politico about high-profile help from top Democrats. “We’re raising enough money to do this on our own.”
Vance and Ryan are polling tight, with Vance holding a 2.3-percentage-point lead in the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate. Republican donors such as Peter Thiel appear confident in Vance’s prospects as Ohio has tilted red in recent elections.
The 10-term congressman famously challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for party leadership in the House back in 2016. He lost. But now he is citing that episode of defiance as evidence that he is willing to break the party line.
“My whole thing there was, like, this is our fault. The Trump creation is our fault,” Ryan added to Politico. “We lost our connection, and that’s how Trump was able to, like, swoop in. And I think this is a chance for us to, right here in the heart of the country, reclaim it.”
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Given the 50-50 split in the Senate, the Ohio race could determine the balance of power in Washington, D.C. Voters are set to head to the polls on Nov. 8.
