Voters had the opportunity to watch not one, but two debates between Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance to find out who will replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) for the open Ohio Senate seat. Judging by last Monday’s performance, and this performance in the debate what happened a week later, it seems that desperation and personal attacks are a habit for Rep. Ryan during debates.
While Rep. Ryan claimed to be a moderate and “independent voice,” he repeated the Biden administration’s narrative about the misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act” in his very first question, despite debate moderator Lindsay McCoy accurately noting that the bill “spends more federal money.”
Vance also mentioned what others have said, namely that the bill will actually augment the deficit. As it has done before, which even the most biased fact checkers confirmedVance mentioned that Ryan voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joe Biden 100 percent of the time. That, and the fact that Ryan pointed out how he had to “suck up” to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), came up during the debate.
Moderator Betram de Souza asked Ryan to speak out against Pelosi and “point out an issue that Speaker Pelosi has completely screwed up and therefore deserves public recognition.” Ryan responded only by saying he was running against Pelosi for the leadership and attacked Vance for his support of former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “I took her on, I took her on,” Ryan said of Pelosi.
Vance was asked to recount Ryan calling him a “Trump sycophant,” in reference to how the former president endorsed him in the primaries and campaigned for him. He was asked what he publicly disagreed with Trump on, to which Vance replied, “I disagree with the president on a number of issues,” most notably how the administration added “bad people on staff” who advocated for “perpetual wars.”
On abortion, Rep. Ryan repeated his response virtually word for word of his position from last week’s debate, which was, “we read at least a couple of articles a week about young people, underage girls who have been raped, or women who have had, uh, serious pregnancy problems, not being able to get help in the state. They have to go to Indiana, they have to go to Illinois, and that’s not good enough for J.D. Vance, who supports a nationwide abortion ban where he wants women to have to get a passport and have to go to Canada.”
Vance also had the opportunity to call Ryan a real “extremist,” implying that while Ryan claims he wants to “codify “Roe v. Wade” speaking about the bill that would actually expand it, Vance noted that Ryan’s “actual voting record here was supporting abortion without restriction, up to 40 weeks of gestation,” and even after birth, in terms of babies born alive from botched abortions. “This is not Roe v. Wade standard, Tim, and just like you call me an extremist, you’re an extremist.” He also had the opportunity to reprise a particularly effective moment from last week in which he called the suspect in the case of a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio, as Townhall recounted, an illegal immigrant.
.@JDVance1: “Tim Ryan voted for a bill that would have prevented doctors from providing care to children who survive botched abortions. Whatever you call me an extremist, you are the extremist on this issue.” photo:twitter.com/TfjuGzXuKo
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 17, 2022
Tim Ryan voted to make taxpayer-funded late-term abortion the law of the land in the United States.
There is one extremist on the scene and it is Tim Ryan #OHSenDebate
— JD Vance for US Senate Press (@JDVancePress) October 17, 2022
Rep. Ryan personally attacked Vance last week on the topic of opioid addiction, despite Vance’s mother struggling with addiction and being raised by his mom. Asked how he would operate his position in the U.S. Senate to stem the crisis, he spoke in part about closing the border, blaming Ryan and the Biden administration for making the problem so bad.
Ryan did the same thing this week, claiming that Vance has a nonprofit he called “fake” and a “fraud” that works with “pill pushers.” Vance responded that Ryan may be “funding his lies” with “pharmaceutical blood money” from companies profiting from the opioid crisis. Ryan also claimed that Vance hires foreign workers. Such attacks from Ryan have prolonged the debate, as Vance has had a chance to respond each time.
As the debate continued, Ryan ramped up his personal attacks. During a discussion on gun control, the congressman confirmed that he considered Vance “extreme,” linking him to Alex Jones.
“We talked about a national abortion ban, we talked about how he thinks the election was stolen, which was one of the reasons Trump agreed to support him.” After a lengthy recounting of Alex Jones saying the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, Ryan said that “our buddy J.D. said that’s one of the most credible news sources in the entire country.”
Ryan added, “I want people to know that it’s like we’re running for the United States Senate… and he’s running and supporting these extremists, the most extreme people in the country, the guy who denied Sandy Hook,” adding, “it’s maddening.”
Vance let Ryan rant before insisting it was “completely made up.” He also noted that Ryan “didn’t really answer the question” and “didn’t provide a single example of anything that would significantly reduce gun violence on our streets or in our schools.”
Vance responds to Tim Ryan, who complains that his microphone isn’t working:
“This is a complete hoax. I never said that. Go and play the tape.” photo:twitter.com/pOkf901YlE
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 17, 2022
Similarly on that topic, Vance called Ryan an “extremist” on the issue of cashless bail that allows violent criminals to get out and “makes the streets less safe,” which Vance called “a far-left position within his party.”
When Vance tried to make a point he suggested Ryan would likely agree with, that the shooters had mental health issues, Ryan dismissed it and asked why Senator Portman had supported Vance.
Perhaps one of the harshest attacks came when de Souza invoked the Great Replacement Theory in a section on immigration and claimed that Vance had warned of an “invasion of immigrants,” asking who they were and where they came from.
Citing record-high border crossings, Vance said they are “primarily” coming through Tim Ryan and Joe Biden’s “wide open southern border, 2.5 million people,” also mentioning the drug and sex trade that goes along with it. Vance has offered Democratic leadership he believes more immigrants will ensure Republicans never win again.
Vance also clarified that this is not about white or non-white immigrants, adding that his wife is the daughter of Southeast Asian immigrants who came here legally, which has “enriched” his life. He then spoke again about illegal immigration, adding that “if you want to start a relationship with this country … your introduction to this country should not violate its laws.”
In the same thread, Ryan accused Vance of “running with” proponents of the Great Replacement theory and “agrees” with and “promotes” the theory that motivated the suspect in the Buffalo shooting in May, also claiming that “these guys just want to fuel racial violence.”
Vance was heard calling Ryan’s response “disgusting” and saying, “this is exactly what happens when the media and people like Tim Ryan accuse me of engaging in the Great Replacement Theory,” to which Ryan interjected to once again accuse Vance of “selling out.”
After a brief exchange, Vance noted that “my own children, my biracial children, are being attacked by scoundrels online and in person because you are so desperate for political power that you will accuse me, the father of three beautiful biracial children, of being racist. We are sick of it.”
Vance once again emphasized his point that “you can believe in a border without being a racist, you can believe in a country without being a racist.” He added “it shows you how desperate this guy is for political power” about Ryan, mentioning “I know you’ve been in power for 20 years, Tim, and I know it’s a sweet gig, but you’re so desperate not to have a real job that you’re going to denigrate me and my family. It’s shameful.”
JD Vance: “My own children, my biracial children, are being attacked by scoundrels online and in person because you are so desperate for political power that you will accuse me, the father of three beautiful biracial children, of engaging in racism. We are sick of it.” photo: twitter.com/gPH5wIQMz8
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 17, 2022
As the moderators tried to move on, Ryan said “wait, I think I hit a nerve with this guy,” which Vance admitted he did because “normal people, Tim Ryan, when you insult their families, you hit a nerve.” Ryan denied that he was talking about his family and told Vance “don’t try to spin it,” again linking him to the “extremists” behind the Great Replacement Theory, which Vance called “disgusting” and emphasized that he did not believe in it.
That ugly moment sent the debate into closing arguments, during which Ryan also attacked Vance, claiming that “I never left, I never abandoned this place, I never went up — greener pastures in San Francisco, and then I wanted to come back and fly in there with $55 million in out-of-state money from the largest corporations in the entire country, the ones that are moving jobs overseas.”
Also on Monday, Suffolk University/USA Today a survey was published which not only showed Vance in the lead, with 47 percent to Ryan’s 45 percent, but also an improvement over last week’s debate. When asked who they thought did better than expected in the debate, 44.74 percent said Vance, while 35.09 percent said Ryan.
The poll was conducted between October 11 and 15 among a group of 500 likely voters in the by-election, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Ohio Poll: 23% of Likely Voters Watched JD Vance-Tim Ryan Debate
Who did better than you expected?
(R) Vance 45% (+10)
(D) Ryan 35India
(R) Vance 56% (+35)
(D) Ryan 21%Overall Score: Vance +2 (Suffolk overshot Democratic by 9.5% in 2016 and 2018) photo:twitter.com/Pa2tEPu3I4
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) October 17, 2022
RealClearPolitics, taking into account this survey, shows, +2 lead for Vance.
