DAYTON — The candidates for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat visited the Miami Valley on Wednesday to address some of the issues that are worrying voters.
Because the Senate is split 50-50, the two main line political parties are working to sway voters to their candidate, Democrat U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan or Republican J.D. Vance.
>> PREVIOUS: Ryan, Vance attack each other in their first debate
The winner will capture the seat previously held by Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who will not run for re-election.
During Wednesday’s visit, the candidates talked economy, jobs, energy independence and extremism:
On extremism, Ryan said, “We have to defend freedom here at home and that means preventing extremists from getting hold of the government who get into women’s personal decisions and you have one of the judges who go to nullifying same-sex marriage next and then go to birth control.”
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Vance: “And as much as there’s this idea that Republicans aren’t doing very well, people are pissed off, right? The country’s leadership is broken and I don’t think they’re going to reward Democrats another mandate of power for two more years.”
On the economy,
Ryan: “China is coming in trying to dominate a lot of these industries or the future and we have to, as Americans, dominate them, so gotta stop the stupid fights and get back to work.”
Vance: “It’s a symptom of a much much bigger problem, which is our economy. It’s way to weak and way to dependent on foreign countries instead of ourselves.”
On job creation, Ryan said, “It’s all about jobs to me. It’s have to we create the good paying jobs for the future so our kids can come back here and thrive.”
On the nation becoming more energy independent, Vance said, “I will say despite that, he still is the president and I think it’s pretty pathetic to have the president of the United States go around to Saudi Arabia, to Venezuela and begging on bended knee for more enrgy resources when we have so much in our own country.”
The Ryan/Vance contest remains close. A poll from Ohio Northern University shows Ryan winning by a 2-point margin if the election ended today.