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Ohio Democratic Senate nominee Tim Ryan has insisted that President Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, saying it is time for a “generational move” for both parties amid a “poisonous” political atmosphere in America.
Ryan’s remarks, which were made during a Thursday evening interview with Youngstown’s WFMJ-TV, one day before he is slated to appear alongside Biden during his visit to the state to tour a new semiconductor manufacturing facility from Intel near Columbus.
“My hunch is that we need new leadership across the board, Democrats, Republicans,” Ryan said when asked whether Biden should seek re-election. “I think it’s time for a generational move for new leaders on both sides. I think the environment politically across the country is poisonous and, you know, people, I think, want some change and I think it’s important for us in both parties…”
Regarding why he has not welcomed Biden to Ohio to campaign with him, Ryan insisted that he is “not really asking anybody.”
OHIO SENATE DEMOCRAT NOMINEE TIM RYAN CALLED FOR BAN OF ‘GAS VEHICLES’ IN 2019
Ohio Senate Democrat nominee Tim Ryan insisted Thursday that President Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, saying it is time for a “generational move” for both parties amid a “poisonous” political atmosphere in America. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Well, I’m not really asking anybody,” Ryan said. “I’m not one of those guys who’s like ‘Oh, I need someone to come in and help me.’ I’ve been doing this, I know what I’m doing, I know what I believe in, I know where I’m from, I know who I’m fighting for. I don’t need anyone to gum that message up.”
During the interview, Ryan was also asked about “campaigning as a moderate Democrat” and whether he believes his voting record is a testament to that.
“Well, I’m campaigning as an independent really,” Ryan said. “I’ve agreed with Trump, for example, on China Trade, I’ve agreed with Trump on renegotiating NAFTA, strong defense, Space Force, General Mattis, on those things, but I’ve also opposed Democratic presidents on really bad trade deals, along with Sherrod Brown. So, I really want people to know is, look, I ran against Nancy Pelosi, I’ve gotten in fights with Bernie Sanders, I’ve taken on Democratic presidents on trade, and I’ve agreed with Republicans, which I think is good for Ohio.”
Up until now, Ryan, who endorsed Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary election, has voted with Biden 100% of the time.
Pressed about his voting record during the Thursday interview, Ryan chose to highlight a few legislative actions taken by his party relating to workers’ pensions and and the cost of prescription drugs.
“I think we should say, ‘what did we vote on?,'” Ryan said. “We saved 100,000 pensions here in Ohio. Many teamsters here in Ohio, in the Mahoning Valley, were going to have their pensions cut in half to two-thirds. We saved those pensions. We just lowered prescription drug costs, capped the Medicare out-of-pocket expenses to $2,000 for seniors, we capped insulin at $35 for people who are in the Medicare program…”
“We’ve done some really goods things and I’m not, like, not gonna vote for it if it’s good for Ohio just cause it has a party label on it,” Ryan said.
President Biden speaks at a United Steelworkers of America Local Union 2227 event in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, to honor workers on Labor Day. (Susan Walsh)
Ryan will face off in the November against his Republican challenger, JD Vance, in the Ohio Senate election.
A spokesperson for the Vance campaign blasted Ryan’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“It takes a real two-faced fraud for someone to tell Ohioans he doesn’t support Biden running for reelection, the literal day before he appears at an event with him,” the spokesperson said. “Remember, this is the same Tim Ryan who votes with Joe Biden 100% of the time in Washington, DC and who endorsed Joe Biden for President in the 2020 Democrat Primary over numerous other options. Tim Ryan can’t run away from his own record of supporting Biden and his leftwing agenda no matter how many times he decides to flip and flop.”
Biden – who signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law last month – is slated to visit Ohio on Friday to tour Intel’s Licking County facility, which is expected to have at least two manufacturing plants that are estimated by the White House to create more than 7,000 construction jobs and 3,000 full-time jobs creating chips.
Ryan’s comments about Biden’s candidacy in 2024 add to growing concerns from Democrats over whether Biden is what the party needs moving forward.
In July, Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota said during a radio interview that he does not think Biden should run for re-election in 2024 and that America needs “well-prepared Democrats” instead.
Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., said in July that he does not think Biden should run for re-election in 2024 and that America needs “well-prepared Democrats” instead. (Getty Images)
“The country would be well-served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats who step up,” Phillips said.
When asked if he would support a Biden re-election bid, Phillips firmly said “no.”
Rep. Angie Craig, also a Democrat from Minnesota, was asked a similar question about Biden in 2024 and agreed with Phillips that the Democratic Party needs a “new generation of leadership.”
“I’m going to do everything in my power as a member of Congress to make sure that we have a new generation of leadership,” Craig said.
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Following Ryan’s Thursday remarks, the Democratic Senate hopeful, according to reporters in attendance at the Friday event attended by Biden in Ohio, softened his remarks on whether Biden should seek the presidency again.
“The president said from the very beginning he was going to be a bridge to the next generation, which is basically what I was saying,” Ryan said, according to a Daily Mail reporter.
Asked at the event whether Biden should run for president again, Ryan reportedly said, “That’s up to him.”