Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan is working to erase Republicans’ built-in advantage in this state. New ads claim his opponent J.D. Vance is anti-police and touts his support of President Trump's trade policy.
In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss Ryan's strategy and ask whether it might backfire with the liberal wing of his own party.
A Modest Proposal
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has come up with a framework for a package of modest gun restrictions. While details of the bill have not been released yet, it would make gun trafficking and straw purchasing federal crimes for the first time. It would also strengthen background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21.
The package does not create red flag laws but will give states major funding to pass such laws to keep the guns out of the hands of criminals or those with severe mental illness.
It would allow police to confiscate guns of dating partners, eliminating the so-call boyfriend loophole. It tightens background check laws for commercial gun dealers and would provide billions of dollars for mental health treatment and school safety.
The proposed framework does not close the gun show or internet sale loophole to background checks and it does not ban or even limit the sale of assault-style weapons.
Ohio's outgoing U.S. Senator Rob Portman is one of 10 Republicans who signed on to the bill which means if no Democrats object, the bill would become law.
Aiming for the Middle
U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Ryan is out with a couple of new TV ads this week that illustrate Tim Ryan’s strategy to attract independent and moderate Republican voters in Ohio.
In one ad, he accuses his Republican opponent JD Vance of wanting to Defund the Police. It features Stark County Sherrif George T. Maier offering an endorsement of Ryan.
Another ad takes a swipe at former President Obama for his international trade policy. Ryan claims he is beholden to no one when it comes to Ohio workers and voted in support of President Trump's stance on trade.
Snollygoster of the Week
It's been said that a politician should never let a good crisis go to waste. This week, Democratic nominee for governor Nan Whaley took advantage of the American Electric Power outage that thrust hundreds of thousands of Ohioans into the dark.
The same company that can't keep folks' power on during a dangerous heat wave is getting a bailout every month for their failing energy plant in Indiana paid for by an extra fee on your electric bill thanks to Mike DeWine's corruption.
— Nan Whaley (@nanwhaley) June 15, 2022
Few would defend the nuclear bailout and AEP is facing a lot of criticism for how it handled this week’s outages, but it is still a little opportunistic to point the finger at AEP over a plant completely unrelated to this issue.
Send questions and comments to snollygoster@wosu.org.