Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has joined calls for the Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan is running for the Ohio Senate in 2022.
Following this week’s announcement by Republican Senator Rob Portmant, he will not be re-elected once his term ends next year. The Democrats planned the strategy to turn the seat around and gain a stronger lead in the Senate.
Ryan said he had not decided whether to act, but told MSNBC on Saturday that he was investigating the idea well.
His remark was applauded by the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Women’s Caucus, Kathy DiCristofaro, who said: ‘Ohio needs leaders like [Tim Ryan] to fight for working people. I’m all in! ‘
Clinton threw her support behind Ohio congressmen by adding, “You looked right, Kathy!”
“I am overwhelmed by supporters who want to encourage me to the Senate. I have not made a decision yet, but I am looking seriously at it,” Ryan said in a tweet on Monday. “Ohio deserves leaders who fight for working people.”
Ryan led a brief presidential campaign in 2019, pitting himself against liberal candidates such as Senator Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., And Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., By presenting himself as a moderate.
But he could not get much traction against the big political names and ended his campaign by October 2019.
Although he won re-election for the 13th Congressional District in Ohio in November, it may not be enough to win a nationwide election that voted twice for President Trump.
Despite several key states waving blue during the last presidential election and electing President Biden, Ohio kept its red line – which Trump reversed in 2016, after the Buckeye state voted for President Obama during both of its presidential elections.
The outgoing Republican senator has taken note of the political polarization in the US, which could be a challenging obstacle for a politician who wants to lead him as a moderate Democrat.
“We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people actively seeking a common ground,” Portman said. “Obviously, this is not a new phenomenon, but a problem that has gotten worse in recent decades.”
Portman has served as a senator in Ohio since 2010 and served in the House of Representatives for another twelve years.
Several GOP officials also looked to Representative Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to fill Portman’s seat, as key GOP members are expected to leave the Senate in 2022, including Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn. .
But a Jordanian spokesman told Fox News on Thursday that congressmen were not planning to leave his post.
“Congressman Jordan is honored by the overwhelming encouragement he received to run for the United States Senate. However, he is only focused on representing the great people of the fourth district in Ohio, and will not attend the “is running to fill the seat of outgoing senator Rob Portman,” the spokesman said.
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“Mr Jordan is of the opinion that at the moment he is better suited to represent Ohio residents in the House of Representatives, where he, as the top Republican in the Judiciary Committee, can advance an American agenda, promote conservative values and the can hold great government accountable, “they added.
Brooke Singman contributed to this report.