Elect Ryan to the U.S. Senate

Tim Ryan should be Ohio's next U.S. senator. The 49-year-old Democratic congressman from Niles would be a worthy replacement for retiring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Cincinnati. Portman and Ryan share a genuine desire to serve Ohioans and tackle the hard issues facing the nation, even if their differing politics mean they often disagree about how to do so. Ryan's Republican opponent, JD Vance, 38, is a political opportunist who has trafficked in culture war demagoguery and conspiracy theories. He declined an invitation to meet with us. Were Vance elected this fall, we fear he would focus not on serving Ohioans, but on catering to the whims of former President Donald Trump. During the crowded and nasty Republican primary Vance was running in the middle of the pack until Trump's endorsement propelled him to victory. In order to win Trump's support, Vance, along with most of the other candidates in the race, had to bend the knee to the ex-president. That meant embracing Trump's falsehoods that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Supporting such a claim, for which there is no credible evidence, is irresponsible and, in our view, disqualifying for someone seeking elected office. Although we rarely agree with Trump, during a rally on Vance's behalf last month the ex-president accurately described Vance's groveling. "JD is kissing my ass," Trump said. "He wants my support." Vance didn't stand up for himself. Trump waved away Vance's evolution from Never Trumper to devoted servant, telling rallygoers that Vance "fell in love" with him. Election denialism isn't the only troubling stance Vance has taken in his capacity as a right-wing culture warrior fueled by the MAGA base's grievances and desire to "own the libs." Vance has railed against so-called elites, despite having earned a law degree from Yale University and made millions as a venture capitalist after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. Despite his hardscrabble upbringing, chronicled in his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance has become one of the elites. In what appeared to be a hat-tip to the abhorrent "great replacement theory," he has suggested that Democrats want to bring in "new voters to replace the voters that are already here," and he has warned of an "invasion" at the southern border. Vance has claimed, without evidence, that President Joe Biden has allowed fentanyl to flow into the country to "kill a bunch of MAGA voters in the middle of the heartland." Vance has called for a purge of federal employees deemed insufficiently loyal to Republicans. In so doing, he ignores the nation's long tradition that civil servants are supposed to serve the American people, not a political party. What Vance has proposed is the stuff of totalitarian states, not a democracy. Vance has said he doesn't "care" about what happens in Ukraine, which is fighting to survive against a brutal and unprovoked invasion on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Ryan wants to continue to support the Ukrainians.) We could go on about the many other terrible things Vance has said, including his extreme pro-life views, but you get the idea. Although we haven't always agreed with Ryan, we have no such qualms about his fitness for office. He served two years in the Ohio Senate before becoming a congressman in 2003. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. His deep experience could be put to good use in the Senate, where Ryan told us in an endorsement interview that he would vote to get rid of the filibuster. In his campaign Ryan has tried to keep a tight focus on the economy and workers. He told us he supported tax cuts for working people and small businesses "to absorb the cost of inflation." Vance has been critical of Ryan for voting with Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., but it shouldn't come as a surprise that he supported his fellow Democrats. That said, a recent Georgetown University study ranked Ryan as the 21st most bipartisan member of Congress. We doubt that Vance would be a model of bipartisanship if elected or even bother with overtures to the other side such as Portman occasionally engages in. For instance, Vance opposed the much-needed bipartisan infrastructure bill that Portman helped pass. (Ryan supported it.) There's also this to consider: Ryan has shown he can stand up to his party. In 2016, he unsuccessfully challenged Pelosi's leadership of House Democrats. He also supported some of Trump's trade tariffs, a mistake in our view because the cost of such tariffs gets passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Ryan also opposed Biden's student loan forgiveness plan and called for the president not to seek a second term. Ryan has played up such disagreements with fellow Democrats in part because he's running in a state that has trended redder in recent elections. The fact is, though, Ryan is a moderate, holding positions one would expect of a center-left politician. For example, Ryan told us he supported protecting abortion rights, enacting reasonable gun-control measures such as expanded background checks, combating climate change and maintaining a strong military. He's also long been a champion of workers and bringing business to Ohio. Ryan voted in favor of the CHIPS Act and has pushed to build a drydock for repairing Navy submarines in Lorain. Ryan is far and away the better candidate, and voters should send him to the Senate.