Mr. Ryan, the Ohio Democrat who is challenging J.D. Vance, has turned the state into perhaps the country’s unlikeliest Senate battleground.
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Representative Tim Ryan is in contention in a state that Donald Trump twice carried by eight points and Democrats had effectively written off.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tim Ryan is the kind of candidate who appears to put some thought into appearing to put no thought into appearances.
His daily uniform exudes well-practiced campaign casual: an Ohio State hoodie on game day; a T-shirt from Dropkick Murphys, the union-minded Celtic punk band, for a recent speech at an A.F.L.-C.I.O. gathering, where he took the stage to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”; untied white Nikes for a canvass kickoff in the capital, laced tastefully days later for a condolence visit to a Toledo union hall.
His stump speech is a hits reel befitting an eastern Ohio congressman, as if culled from the down-home liner notes of a Springsteen track about the industrial Midwest.
“My grandfather was a steelworker…”
“I’m campaigning for the exhausted majority…”
“Star of the high school football team…”
“O-H!” (I-O.)
Most political races are about authenticity on some level: who tries too hard, who doesn’t try hard enough, who can read the electorate without staring. Mr. Ryan, 49, has made Ohio perhaps the country’s unlikeliest Senate battleground by taking this premise to its logical extreme.
He is seeking to depict his Republican opponent, J.D. Vance, the author and venture capitalist made famous by a memoir of life in Appalachia, as something of a political fabulist — a playacting fraud (“Uncomfortable in Flannel,” the text flashes in one attack ad) who opposed Donald J. Trump before he supported him. He is trying to make the contest about whose public persona is closer to the truth, and closer to Ohio’s — often eliding his own political calibrations through the years as a former abortion opponent who once earned an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.
Mr. Ryan is, if polls are to be believed even a little, in contention in a state that Mr. Trump twice carried by eight points and Democrats had effectively written off, complicating Republican plans to flip the chamber. The Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC closely aligned with Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, grew concerned enough over the summer to reserve $28 million in television and radio ads to prop up Mr. Vance, who has raised far less money than Mr. Ryan on his own. A spokesman for the super PAC said it was spending notably more in only two states, Georgia and Pennsylvania, both considered tossups.
The Week in Political News
Maya KingReporting from Atlanta
The Week in Political News
Maya KingReporting from AtlantaGabriela Bhaskar, Hannah Beier and Nicole Craine for The New York Times
With elections less than three weeks away, voter turnout in Georgia is soaring, Bernie is back on the road and the No. 1 issue for many continues to be the economy.
Our reporters are across the country following candidates. Here are four takeaways from the campaign trail →
The Week in Political News
Maya KingReporting from AtlantaGabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times
Voter turnout in Georgia is far outperforming that of previous midterm elections, rivaling presidential-year figures. On the first day of early voting, more than 130,000 people cast ballots — a more than 85 percent increase from the same day in 2018, according to the secretary of state’s office.
The Week in Political News
Maya KingReporting from AtlantaGabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
Georgia’s Republican incumbent governor, Brian Kemp, and his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, met on the debate stage Monday night for the first time since 2018. Within their back-and-forth were substantive policy points on firearms and the pandemic. Abrams trails Kemp by more than five percentage points in most polls.
The Week in Political News
Maya KingReporting from AtlantaFrederic J. Brown/AFP — Getty Images
Voters’ worries about the economy are eclipsing concerns about the state of democracy, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll. Seventy-one percent of all voters said democracy was at risk, but just 7 percent said that was the biggest problem for the country.
The Week in Political News
Maya KingReporting from AtlantaHaiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is mounting an eight-state tour to gin up voter enthusiasm over the final two weekends before Election Day. He plans to host nearly 20 events geared toward young voters and progressives in battleground states like Nevada and Pennsylvania.
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Source: nytimes.com
