One of Ohio’s most high-profile Democrats, Rep. Tim Ryan, is reportedly planning to launch a bid for the state’s open Senate seat after incumbent GOP Sen. Rob Portman announced he would not be seeking reelection in 2022.
According to The New York Times, “Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio plans to run for his state’s open Senate seat, Democrats who have spoken with him said, a bid that would test whether even a Democrat with roots in the blue-collar Youngstown region and close ties to organized labor can win in the increasingly Republican state.”
The Democratic lawmaker said, “The U.S. Senate needs another working-class voice, and I’m very serious about the opportunity to continue representing the people of Ohio.”
Sen. Portman shocked his own party last week when he announced that he would be retiring, citing partisan gridlock that has only worsened in the Donald Trump era.
More from The New York Times:
Mr. Ryan, an 18-year House veteran, has reached out to a host of Ohio and national Democrats in recent days about the seat now held by Senator Rob Portman, a Republican who stunned officials in both parties by announcing last week that he would retire.
Former Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, a Democrat who has been encouraging Mr. Ryan to run, said of the congressman, “I think he is the person with the best chance, given this political climate we’re in and given the way Ohio has been performing.”
Over the weekend, Ryan got an early boost for his potential Senate candidacy from Hillary Clinton, who took to Twitter to urge him to run.
The New York Times notes that Ryan will be an early front runner for the Democratic Senate nomination, but he likely won’t be the only candidate in the primary field. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Dr. Amy Acton, the former director of Ohio’s Department of Health, have both hinted at bids of their own.
It’s still not clear who the GOP candidate will be
There was early chatter that Donald Trump sycophant Jim Jordan would make a run for the Senate seat in Ohio, but a spokesman for the congressman said he would remain in the House. That leaves the field wide open for Republicans.
Regardless of who the GOP Senate candidate ends up being, it’s almost a certainty that they will closely align themselves with Trump. After all, the disgraced ex-president won the state by comfortable margins in 2016 and 2020.
The glimmer of hope for Democrats is that Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown won reelection by a healthy margin in 2018, showing that it’s still possible to beat Republicans in the state.
Flipping a Senate seat from red to blue in Ohio will be an uphill climb, but Rep. Tim Ryan could be the Democratic Party’s best chance of rolling back the Buckeye State’s MAGA takeover.
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