Rep. Tim Ryan is a Democrat. He’s been running away from the label for months but he is, in fact, a Democrat, the one Democrat primary voters in Ohio picked to be their Senate nominee.

Since winning the primary to compete for the seat currently being held by the retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman, Ryan has focused a considerable amount of time portraying himself as an “independent voice,” and a “man of the people” who cares more about what his constituents want than what his Democratic overlords in Washington, D.C. do.

As part of that message, Ryan has frequently painted his Republican opponent J.D. Vance as a Trump stooge, out of touch with mainstream Ohio voters, and not a genuine Ohioan because Vance once rejected the offer of a barbecue sandwich from an Ohio farmer at a September Farm Science Review event or something.

But as we’ve previously reported, Ryan has shown himself to be everything he accuses Vance of being: a liar, an out-of-touch elitist, not authentic enough to pass the “real Ohioan” test (by his own standards), and too extreme for Ohio – particularly on issues like abortion, the gender identity politics debate, and dealing with so-called “MAGA Republicans.”

But perhaps the most important thing to remember about Tim Ryan in advance of this evening’s debate with Vance is that Ryan believes that Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), not the people of Ohio, will be his boss if he wins his race in November.

“Sen. Schumer is here and I want to make sure he’s my future boss, so I’ve got to suck up a little bit here,” Ryan said while laughing and looking at Schumer during his speech at the 2022 North America’s Building Trades Unions Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. back in April:

Reminder ahead of tonight's debate, Tim Ryan calls Chuck Schumer his "future boss."pic.twitter.com/LxTrYgJHHy

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 10, 2022

I’m pretty sure Chuck Schumer is not supposed to be his boss. The people of Ohio would be his boss, if the election goes his way. That Ryan seems to believe otherwise is problematic and Ohio voters who are not interested in a radical New York Democrat being “the boss” of one of their Senators should definitely take notice.

But considering Ryan has voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden 100 percent of the time, I guess we should’t be too surprised that he would openly admit that he’d fall in line with Schumer if elected.

As Vance has repeatedly pointed out, and has been extensively documented, Tim Ryan has two faces – the fake folksy one he puts on for the voters back home, and the beholden one he puts on for Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden when he glides back into the hallways of Congress to vote on legislation.

Does that sound like an “independent voice”? I don’t think so.

Judge for yourself by watching the Fox 8 debate between Ryan and Vance, which starts at 7 pm ET. It will be broadcast live and online at this link and at other links listed here. They’ll have a second debate as well a week from now, hosted by WFMJ.

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