JD Vance campaigns in Avon ahead of U.S. Senate election

AVON — A crowd of approximately 150 supporters showed up at Willoway Nurseries on Center Road on Saturday for a meet-and-greet with and remarks by Republican U.S. Senate candidate JD Vance. "We've got a country to save," the Middletown native and bestselling author of "Hillbilly Elegy" told the crowd. Focusing on topics including the loss of manufacturing jobs in Ohio, border protection and an "America First" narrative, he criticized the federal government, President Joe Biden and his opponent on the ballot Nov. 8, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan. Ohio and the United States have lost manufacturing and energy jobs "to the Chinese and the Mexicans," Vance said. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran also called for a stop to "stupid decisions" like "putting the interests of the world first," and for the nation to "start putting the interest of American citizens first." Decisions like that at the federal level affected Vance's own family, the Ohio State University and Yale law school-educated candidate said. Vance was raised by his grandparents, whom he called his "mamaw and papaw." He said when his mamaw died, "we found 19 loaded handguns all across the house." The crowd laughed. His mamaw couldn't get around as well with her walker in her house, so she had guns stashed away in case anyone tried to break in, Vance explained. "I tell you that in part because I want you to know where I came from, and in part because I want you to know that those are our people, ladies and gentlemen, and they have been failed by the past few years of federal leadership," he said. "American people need American leadership that puts Americans first," Vance said. Vance also railed Saturday against immigration policy and Biden's "open border policies," which allows people to sneak across the border illegally and dangerous drugs to come in, Vance said. Fentanyl seizures in 2022 have exceeded those in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. It is expected that 2 million people will be taken into custody by the end of the year for trying tried to enter the country illegally, border officials said. Asked if he thought that means that border security policies are working, Vance said no. "Let's say for example that you have four times as many illegal border crossings as you did three years ago and you're catching twice as many of those people, the number of arrests are going to go up, the number of seizures is going to go up, even though on net you have far more illegal aliens coming into your country and you have far more illegal drugs," he said. "The fact that they're seizing more fentanyl, in other words, is evidence that more fentanyl is coming across." It's an example of where Democrats have "thrown open the border," Vance said. More directly, Vance accused Ryan of always siding with Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and how they want him to vote — not with what's good for Ohioans. Without providing a source for his claim, Vance also told a reporter that migrants at southern border are telling Americans they are coming because of Biden's policies. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is seeing more migrants from Central American nations, Cuba and Spanish-speaking nations other than Mexico, the agency recently told CNN. And the U.S. admitted only 11,400 refugees in 2021, the lowest number since 1980, according to the Pew Research Center. The lower numbers were attributed in part to COVID-19 pandemic precautions, the think tank explained. Vance was joined Saturday by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and one of his former U.S. Senate primary opponents, Bernie Moreno. LaRose, who is facing an election challenge from suburban Cincinnati Democrat Chelsea Clark, told the crowd that he believes the GOP will win big "but we gotta earn it first." Oct. 11 is the deadline to register to vote for the Nov. 8 election, LaRose said. He said it is "easy to vote" and "hard to cheat" at the ballot box. LaRose referred 62 cases of potential voter fraud to Ohio prosecutors in February for further investigation, out of 6 million votes cast in the 2020 general election. On Sept. 7, he referred four more, his office announced. Moreno, who dropped out of the crowded Republican primary in February, has since endorsed Vance and predicted Saturday he would be Ohio's next senator. Polls that show Vance and Ryan are running a close race are "a lie," Moreno said. "JD is going to win with a huge margin in November," he said. On Friday, an Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll reported that Vance leads Ryan by 4 points. Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight.com has Ryan leading Vance by 44.7 percent to 44.1 percent in an average of numerous polls including The Hill/Emerson College poll. Vance and LaRose were headed to the Covelli Centre in Youngstown later on Saturday for a rally for former President Donald Trump. Ryan campaign responds In a statement to The Chronicle-Telegram on Saturday, Tim for Ohio spokesperson Jordan Fuja said Vance lied about Ryan's record in Washington. "After months of hiding from Ohioans and campaigning in places like Nantucket and Miami, it's no surprise that San Francisco fraud JD Vance is using one of his rare public appearances in Ohio to lie about Tim's record of fighting like hell for what's best for Ohio," Fuja said in an email. "While Tim was working across the aisle to bring millions of dollars and thousands of jobs back home, JD is relying on the support of out-of-state allies to distract from his extreme and deeply unpopular positions." As for voting party-line and in step with Biden and Pelosi, a Georgetown University survey released in May ranked Ryan the 21st most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives, the Youngstown Vindicator reported. Ryan also broke ranks with Biden on student loan forgiveness and on ending tariffs on solar panel manufacturing, according to published reports. Ryan also ran, unsuccessfully, against Pelosi for speaker of the House in 2016. In a separate news release sent out Saturday, the Ryan campaign criticized Vance as being out of touch with Ohioans for "trying to outcompete the Buckeyes" by holding a rally on an Ohio State game day. The rally was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., which was also the scheduled kickoff time at Ohio Stadium for the game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the University of Toledo Rockets. "It's game day in Ohio and JD Vance clearly doesn't give a damn about the Buckeyes — but this isn't the first time he's shown that he's more comfortable ignoring Ohioans than tailgating in Columbus," Fuja said in that news release. "Ohioans know he's an out-of-state fraud who's only in this race for himself." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.