Ohio Senate candidates Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance trade barbs during 1st debate
![Rep. Tim Ryan.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3LHyGpx7yVy7tscxzrdWRA-415-80.jpg)
The Senate race in Ohio is being closely watched, as Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Republican venture capitalist J.D. Vance — nearly even in the polls — vie to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R).
During their first debate Monday night, Ryan and Vance threw barbs at one another. Ryan called Vance out for the company he keeps, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), "who wants to ban books," and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), "who wants a national abortion ban. You're running around with [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's the absolute looniest politician in America," he added.
In return, Vance questioned why Youngstown "lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs during your 20 years," and accused Democrats of bad economic policy and weak border security. Ryan responded that as a venture capitalist, Vance invested in China, and "the problem we're having now with inflation is our supply chains all went to China, and guys like him made a whole lot of money off that." Vance said he does not remember investing in China.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
On abortion, Vance declined to say whether he supports Graham's national 15-week abortion ban. He called himself "pro-life" and said "some minimum national standard is totally fine with me," but added that he "always believed in reasonable exceptions." Ryan said he opposes the Ohio law, blocked on Friday, that bans most abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. He is also in favor of codifying abortion rights.
Vance, who said earlier this year he doesn't "really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another," said he wants to see the U.S. have "a foreign policy establishment that puts the interests of our citizens first." Ryan responded that "if J.D. had his way, Putin would be through Ukraine at this point. He'd be going into Poland," to which Vance replied, "If I had my way, you'd put money at the southern border, Tim, instead of launching money into Ukraine."
Closer to home, Ryan said he wasn't afraid to push back against the Democratic Party, repeating an earlier comment that he doesn't think President Biden should run again in 2024. He chided Vance's silence when former President Donald Trump said during a September rally that "J.D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support so [much]." Trump took Vance's "dignity from him. He was called an ass-kisser by the former president. Ohio needs an ass-kicker, not an ass-kisser," Ryan said. Vance responded by saying it's almost Halloween, and Ryan "has put on a costume where he pretends to be a reasonable moderate."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Paraguay's dangerous dalliance with cryptocurrency
Under The Radar Overheating Paraguayans are pushing back over power outages caused by illegal miners
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The Week contest: Tattoo prediction
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Escape seaside in Newport, Rhode Island
The Week Recommends For the quintessential New England experience, head to the Classic Coast
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Menendez convicted of bribery, fraud, and extortion
Speed Read The New Jersey Democratic Senator was found guilty in a federal corruption trial
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Florida judge dismisses Trump documents case
Speed Read Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Hamas says military chief survived Israeli strike
Speed Read An Israeli bombing failed to hit its intended target, military commander Mohammed Deif, but killed at least 90 Palestinians
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
First Israeli report on Oct. 7 finds 'severe mistakes and errors' in IDF response
Speed Reads Israeli military admits failures in response to deadly Hamas attack that triggered Gaza war
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
JD Vance's journey from Trump critic to VP short list
In the spotlight The Ohio senator may be an option for a running mate, but he hasn't always thought so highly of Trump
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Biden saw neurologist during physicals
Speed Read Following his bad debate performance, many are asking questions about the president's brain
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published