Tim Ryan (left), J.D. Vance.Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty; Drew Angerer/Getty
A debate betweenneck and neckOhio Senate candidatesTim RyanandJ.D. Vancegrew heated after Ryan accused Vance of losing his dignity to former PresidentDonald Trump.
Vance, 38, a venture capitalist and author of the memoir-turned-movieHillbilly Elegy, won the Republican primary in Ohiolargely due to an endorsementfrom the former president, whom he previously criticized.
Trump has taken note of his power in the race, saying in a rally just last month: “J.D. is kissing my a–, he wants my support so much. I think he’s running, J.D., on an ‘I love Donald Trump’ policy. Yeah, he said some bad things about me, but that’s before he knew me, and then he fell in love.”
On Monday, Vance’s Democratic opponent, 49-year-old Ryan, seized on that comment, saying in the debate, “Just a few weeks ago in Youngstown, onstage, Donald Trump said to J.D. Vance: ‘All you do is kiss my a– to get my support.”
Later in the debate, Ryan returned again to Trump’s comment, saying, “I’m for Ohio. I don’t kiss anyone’s a– like him. Ohio needs an a–kicker not an a–kisser.”
“I’m a Never Trump guy,” Vance said in an interview withCharlie Rosein 2016,according toPolitico. “I never liked him.”
Vance had also called Trump “unfit for our nation’s highest office,” “an idiot,” “noxious” and “reprehensible,” saying his policies ranged from “immoral to absurd.”
But once Vance launched a Republican campaign for office, he changed his tune, refashioning himself publicly in the style of the former president, who then backed Vance in a statement and appeared with him at a rally.
“Like some others J.D. Vance may have said some not-so-great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,” Trump said in April. “He is our best chance for victory in what could be a very tough race.”
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Ryan, a former Democratic presidential candidate, has represented the Youngstown area of Ohio in Congress since 2003.
He has been a staunch critic of Trumps and blasted Republicans for their response to the 2021 Capitol riots, saying those against investigating the events of that day are either “pretending to ignore what’s happening or they’re living in a world of delusion.”
source: people.com
