Ryan Launches Statewide Bus Tour in Leadup to Nov. 8
WARREN, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan kicked off a stateside bus tour Tuesday morning to support his campaign for U.S. Senate in the leadup to the Nov. 8 general election.
Ryan, joined by his wife, Andrea, debarked the bus at Courthouse Square and met with a handful of supporters and journalists to unveil what he called the “Workers First Express” before taking to the road for the next five weeks.
“It’s fourth quarter, you know, with just a few minutes left in the game, so you’ve got to make sure you run hard and you continue to get the message out,” Ryan said. “We’re pumped about closing this thing out and bringing home a win.”
The campaign is “a long way from where we started,” when “nobody gave us a shot,” he added. A couple of recent public polls show him up three points over the Republican nominee, author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance, though most polling shows both candidates within the margin of error.
A Spectrum News/Siena poll taken Sept. 18 though 22 showed Ryan with a three-point lead over Vance. The Real Clear Politics site shows Vance with an average 1.2 percentage point lead over the last five polls conducted.
The bus will offer “some more visibility and extra comfort” as the candidate and his team travel across the state, press secretary Jordan Fuja said.
“They have been driving his Tahoe everywhere,” she said.
“It’s the same thing we’ve been doing except less backache,” Ryan said.
“It feels hard but we’re having a good time,” Andrea Ryan said, “He’s gone a lot. So this is an opportunity for us to get to spend some time together.”
The nature of Ohio, which has 88 counties and 13 media markets, means candidates “have to focus everywhere” to reach voters, Ryan said.
“You can’t ignore rural areas, you can’t ignore small towns but you also have to do well in the suburbs and in the cities. There’s no easy solution.” Ryan said. “In the final five weeks, we want to make sure that we have the ability to get around to get to all these places.”
Ryan planned to head to Columbus upon departing Warren, then hit Cincinnati, Dayton, Lima and Toledo later in the week.
“As I’ve told people from the very beginning, we come from an area that’s been forgotten over the last 30 or 40 years,” Ryan said. He said he wants people to know where he comes from and he will be their voice in the Senate.
Earlier this week, Vance’s campaign announced plans for Wednesday in Perrysburg, Caledonia and Columbus with Donald Trump Jr., as well as attending a clambake Thursday and three grassroots events Saturday.
Last month, Vance appeared at a rally in Youngstown with former president Donald Trump.
Ryan said he had no plans for events with major surrogates.
“We want to do this pretty much on our own,” he said “We’re not enamored with surrogates like J.D. is. We don’t need anybody to prop me up in doing this. I know what I believe in and we’re just going to communicate that over the next five weeks.”
Vance spokesman Luke Schroeder shot back at Ryan over use of surrogates.
“J.D. is proud to have the entire Republican party unified behind him. Meanwhile, Ryan’s running from his 100% voting record with Joe Biden and is leaning on leftist Hollywood celebrities like John Legend and Paul Simon to campaign for him,” he said. “Ryan’s campaign even held an event in Ohio with New Jersey senator Cory Booker, one of the most liberal lawmakers in the nation – but they kept it quiet.”
Pictured at top: U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and Andrea Ryan will travel across Ohio for the next five weeks.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
