Ryan, Vance deciding factors in Ohio’s bipartisanship

Story by Kaitlyn Finchler

With election day in the near future, the race for the Ohio Senate position is coming down to small details. U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) currently serves as one-half of Ohio’s bipartisanship with other U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

U.S. Rep Tim Ryan (D-OH) and J.D. Vance, lawyer, author and the Republican Party’s nominee for the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Ohio are the two candidates in question. 

Ohio has been known as a swing state in almost every election, but since former president Donald Trump was elected in 2016, Ohio’s status as a swing state may be no longer.

“In the last decade, [Ohio] has certainly trended in the Republican direction,” said Michael Ensley, associate political science professor. “Part of that has to do with the shifts in the Republican Party, more toward what some people call the ‘nationalist populist wing’ of the Republican Party.”

Ensley said Ryan has to fit himself into the mold of where Ohio is going if he wants to win the election. 

“Ryan is certainly someone I think, who can win statewide in Ohio,” Ensley said. “I see him as someone much in the mold of Sherrod Brown, who has focused more on the economic issues that motivate many voters.”

Ensley said Ryan’s biggest challenge is to overcome Ryan because he’s running as a Democrat in a year that’s favorable toward Republicans. For Vance, his biggest challenge will be establishing his base supporters and to fight back against Ryan’s claims of him being untrustworthy.

Brown and Portman currently work together as Ohio’s senators, but Brown said he sees it as an arrangement rather than a choice, as their roles are voted on by Ohio residents.

“My job is to figure out a way to work with the other senator from Ohio,” Brown said.

“In some ways, these partnerships are arranged marriages. I didn’t choose Rob Portman and he didn’t choose me, but the voters chose us both, so we figured out a way to make that happen.”

While Brown is confident in his ability to work with Ryan, he said he has doubts about potentially working with Vance due to his lack of political experience.

“J.D. Vance has never held office [so] I don’t really know what he thinks,” Brown said. “I know he

hated Trump back in 2016 and 2017 and now he loves Trump. So I don’t really know who he is or what he thinks about the world.”

Vance has previously made comments about rape, incest and abortion that Brown said made his “mind spin.”

Regardless of personal beliefs, Brown implores Ohioans to go out and vote regardless of which side they may be on. 

“You almost always can go to the ballot box and look and say, ‘I’m not really wild about her, but she is better than the other guy,’” Brown said. “If you have to leave a race blank because you can’t decide — that’s OK — but make sure you go to the polling place.”