COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ten candidates fought for the opportunity to run in the 2022 U.S. Senate race, but just two are left standing.
J.D. Vance beat out six other Republicans, while Tim Ryan had a landslide victory with 70% of the vote for the Democratic nomination.
Here is a briefing on each candidate:
- Ryan is currently serving his tenth term as a U.S. Congressman. He primarily focuses on economic development and rights for the state's "working class." He is known for being a moderate Democrat who wants to reduce partisanship. He is endorsed by Senator Sherrod Brown, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and a slew of unions, legislators and local politicians.
- Vance is a Trump-endorsed venture capitalist, who calls himself a conservative outsider, who has not held a position in any office. He has been a CNN analyst and had spoken out against trump but Vance apologized to the former president in 2021. He is focusing on combating what he calls the "woke left," creating jobs for the working class and fighting undocumented immigration.
Their main issues they follow, according to each campaign site are below. Please note that just because something is not a category on their site, doesn't mean they don't address it in the description.
- Cutting workers in on the deal (boosting the middle class, raising minimum wage, keeping jobs in the U.S.)
- Rebuilding the country and revitalizing manufacturing.
- Investing in affordable health care for all Ohioans.
- Giving seniors a pay raise (increasing benefits, cutting taxes.)
- Dominating the clean energy economy and protecting natural resources.
- Honoring Ohio's military community and strengthening national security.
- Helping students win the future (high-quality affordable child care, universal pre-K, tuition-free community college.)
- Creating new opportunities for rural Ohio.
- Ending racial disparities.
- Keeping Ohioans safe (common sense gun laws, modernizing police — not defunding.)
- Modernizing immigration system.
- Strengthening democracy (Voting Rights Act.)
- Protecting reproductive freedom.
- Standing with LGBTQ+ Ohioans.
"We're going to heal the country, heal Ohio, and in turn, heal the United States of America," Ryan said in his victory speech.
- Protect conservative values (fight against CRT, gender teaching in school.)
- Restore America's manufacturing base.
- Defend American small businesses.
- Dismantle big tech oligarchy.
- Conserve traditional families (encourage fathers to "step up," change tax code to reward marriage.)
- End abortion.
- Solve southern border crisis (reform legal immigration.)
- Combat drug and opioid epidemic.
- Protect Second Amendment rights.
- Restore sanity on COVID-19 (people shouldn't have to show vaccination papers to eat.)
Note — this happened early in the pandemic, but would be rare to see right now.
- A foreign policy that puts Americans first.
- Spending and inflation (get inflation under control.)
- Election integrity (voter ID, signature verification on absentee ballots, no mass mail-in voting.)
"Ladies and gentlemen, it ain't the death of the America First Agenda," Vance said in his victory speech.
The fight has already begun.
"J.D. Vance had this campaign funded initially by a $10 million check from the silicon valley billionaire in there," Ryan said. "It doesn't sound very working class to me."
"Tim Ryan needs to go down and we're going to be the party that does it," Vance said.
News 5 reached out to both candidates, but only Ryan agreed to an interview during Good Morning Cleveland.
News 5 reached out again afterward as well, but Vance was not available.
"It's time for us to find the issues that unite us, not divide us — And I've got a long record of doing that," Ryan said. "It's about getting stuff done."
Ryan is hoping to grab the republican votes that don't agree with Trump, and don't align themselves with Vance, he said.
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