At a debate in Cleveland Monday night, two middle-aged white guys with varying degrees of gray hair, wearing nearly identical outfits—blue suits, white shirts and red ties—made a clear play to court voters in the political center.
But even in all their commonalities, the dueling candidates—Rep. Tim Ryan (D) and businessman J.D. Vance—wasted no time in trying to tear each other apart.
Ryan bucked Democratic Party leadership at almost every opportunity, including by saying Vice President Kamala Harris was “absolutely wrong” to suggest the border is secure, that President Joe Biden shouldn’t run in 2024, touting areas where he agreed with former President Donald Trump, saying “everybody’s to blame” for inflation, and bragging about being a “pain in the rear end” to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
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He tore into Vance for his views on abortion, stating, “We can't ignore the level of extremism that we’re hearing from J.D. Vance on this position.”
Vance, who had dodged questions about his position on Sen. Lindsey Graham’s 15-week federal abortion ban on the campaign trail, said he supports “some minimum national standard” on abortion but also would have supported abortion access for the viral case of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who became pregnant after being raped. He then pivoted, ripping Ryan for his position on immigration, noting that the man who had raped the Ohio girl was in the country illegally.
“If you had done your job she would’ve never been raped in the first place.” The Republican hopeful on multiple occasions accused Ryan of dodging questions while framing the congressman as a Washington insider.
He said marijuana is a state’s issue but said he “doesn’t want “anybody going to prison for smoking a joint.” And though he said he wouldn’t support the Senate’s same-sex marriage bill because of concerns over religious liberty, he said access to same-sex marriage is the law of the land, stating, “I’m not trying to do anything to change that.”
Yet between all of the political positioning, mud was slung, with quips like, “shameful,” “ridiculous,” “dishonest” and “failure of accomplishment” flying through the room.
Ryan, for one, hammered Vance on a comment from Trump at a recent Ohio rally suggesting Vance was kissing the former president’s ass in exchange for MAGA support. “Ohio needs an ass-kicker not an ass-kisser,” Ryan said.
“I don't know anybody I grew up with... that would allow somebody to take their dignity like that and then get back up on stage,” Ryan said.
After Ryan suggested Vance had invested in a company that shipped jobs off to China, Vance argued back that the narrative was false, pushing Ryan to say what the name of the company was. When Ryan could not come up with the name, Vance attacked.
“So your consultants gave you this line and you don’t actually know it?” he said.
The raucous debate is emblematic of the larger state of the race.
Ryan and Vance are neck-and-neck in the contest for the Ohio Senate seat, which went up for grabs after Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) announced in 2021 that he would retire after his current term. Portman has endorsed Vance—and Democrats have rallied around Ryan, though they’ve not invested as much money in Ohio as they have other Senate races like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Ryan is a former 2020 presidential contender and has served in the House since 2003. He’s built a reputation as a moderate among Democrats—and has been among the most Biden-averse Democrats running this cycle, repeatedly suggesting he would not welcome a Biden visit on the campaign trail and touting times he’s broken with his party leader.
Vance, an author and Trump’s primary pick, has sparked worry among conservative operatives for not spending enough time in Ohio and allegedly running a sub-par campaign. FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregates show Ryan narrowly ahead.
But even as the race looks tight, both candidates promised they will accept the results of the election, whatever they may be.
Ryan gave a firm “yes,” and Vance, in a position of walking the line between his MAGA allegiance and swing-state constituency, said simply, “Of course.”
