XENIA, Ohio — Northeast Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan is the Democratic frontrunner for the U.S. Senate seat Rob Portman is retiring from this year.

In late February, Spectrum News followed Ryan on the trail in Southwest Ohio to see, in-person, how he’s trying to flip a red seat blue by focusing almost entirely on the economy.

After a meet-and-greet in Xenia, Spectrum News Washington Bureau Reporter Taylor Popielarz conducted a sit-down interview with Ryan to gauge where he stands on various policy issues.

The full, unedited conversation may be viewed or the full transcript may be read below:

Transcript from Feb. 22, 2022 interview:

Taylor: Obviously, someone could go onto your campaign website, they could see what issues you stand for. But what are three policies that you're advocating for — kind of top line — that would improve Ohioans lives?

Tim: Well, I mean, we got to rebuild the middle class, build the country up and beat China. So every policy needs to flow through that. And that means infrastructure. That means broadband in every community. That means, you know, creating these hundreds of thousands of jobs here in Ohio. We've got to make sure we have policies to reshore all the jobs we lost in the last 30 or 40 years. You can think of the Intel project that's going to be huge in Columbus, but have ramifications across the country. You could think about electric vehicles, batteries, the Foxconn deal, what's going on with First Solar. So the Competes Act, policy-wise, is money to help land those companies and bring them back or help them grow here in the United States. And then you've got to have a skilled workforce. So bringing shop class back — I thought one of the dumbest things we ever did in this country was tell everybody they have to go to college. We got to get shot class back, go into skills training, joint vocational schools, making sure that these jobs of the future are going to take people who don't necessarily have a college degree. So we got to make sure everybody has an opportunity. And really getting that into every community in Ohio, every corner of Ohio. I'd say those are the two or three keys.

Taylor: You voted for the U.S., Mexico, Canada trade agreement — USMCA. It was the first trade deal you backed. You talk in these speeches about NAFTA and being against that. Do you feel USMCA is working?

Tim: Yeah, I think so. I mean, look, Donald Trump wasn't wrong about everything. He was right about China and the threat, and he was right about wanting to renegotiate NAFTA. And I think it is helping. You're starting to see workers in Mexico work to unionize, to lift their own working standards up. And as their wages go up in Mexico, it becomes more competitive to keep work here in the United States. And that's been the problem — this race to the bottom. That's why NAFTA was bad, most favored nation trade status with China was bad. There were no environmental protections, they could dump the crap right into the river, right? In the United States, we don't want you to do that. So we have laws against that. They would pay their workers a buck an hour, two bucks an hour. So we lost all our manufacturing jobs. So allowing them to lift up their standard of living is going to provide more of a competitive playing field, which is ultimately going to benefit the American worker.

Taylor: When it comes to climate change, you’ve obviously talked about it before. As a senator, how would you address it? What do you think is the federal government's role?

Tim: Well, I think helping build out the infrastructure to dominate these industries of the future. So wind and solar are very important. Natural gas is going to be a huge component to transitioning. And that's a big job creator, a lot of the union construction trade people are working there. And then how do we take that and move into hydrogen, blue or green hydrogen, which is good for the environment, but also can provide low cost energy for manufacturing. So going all in on electric vehicles, batteries, charging stations, wind and solar. Making sure that the steel used for all of these projects are American-made steel, which is the cleanest steel in the whole world. So having strong buy American provisions in these pieces of legislation are really, really important. [Senator] Sherrod [Brown] and I were able to do that in the infrastructure bill. So going all in on these industries of the future, this is where the jobs are. And ultimately, in all these instances, cutting workers in on the deal. You can't ask someone to move from a natural gas job to a wind job and they're going to go from making $100,000 a year to $40,000 a year. Like, that's not going to work. The workers have to benefit from this. So we've got to get wages up in these industries.

Taylor: Do you see a future for coal or I guess a longer term future for natural gas in Ohio? 

Tim: Well, natural — again, that's why we’ve got to invest in the technology because capturing the carbon is going to be critically important and methane — all of these different areas. So we've got to have the technology. I mean, coal got displaced primarily by the cost of natural gas, down 30,000 jobs. Now, coal can be used, I think if we make proper investments, as material, you know? If you’re not burning it, it's fine. And I think it could actually be a benefit to a lot of these coal communities. We’ve just got to think differently. Too much and too often we think in the old ways. What are the new ways? How do we use coal for material? How do we promote natural gas, but maybe do it even in a cleaner way? How do we move to hydrogen? These are all opportunities. We're America, we come up with the new ideas. We just got to put the money into the research and development to make it happen. And then ultimately, these communities can get plugged in.

Taylor: Many of the Republicans in this race are talking about the national debt and wanting to cut many federal agencies to help lower the cost — what the government is spending each year. As a senator, what would you cut to lower the national debt?

Tim: Well, I think there are opportunities for us. Waste, fraud and abuse in the Defense Department, for example. I took on TransDigm, they were bilking the Defense Department, we were able to save some money there. So if you're cheating the system in the Defense Department, that's one way of doing it. I think the more we move to preventative health care, the more we're going to be able to save money in the Medicare and Medicaid system. We shouldn't do it on the backs of working people, but there are modernization efforts that sometimes Democrats don't quite talk about enough. How do we make this thing called government work more efficiently? It's not a business, but it can still be efficient, and how do we, you know, look at it differently? And if we do that, for example, if we front load preventative health care screenings and other opportunities within nutrition and diet, how do we reverse diabetes through using food nutrition, you're going to bend the cost curve on the healthcare program. And so there's ways of doing it that's not on the back of working people. I do find it ironic that the folks who want tax cuts for the top 1% blew a hole in the deficit. No one was talking about it, then. But I do think it's an important issue, as long as it's not done on the backs of working people.

Taylor: On foreign policy. Obviously, we have the conflict in Ukraine unfolding in real time right now. When you look at that and then you look back at the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, how do you feel President Biden has been handling foreign policy?

Tim: I was very disappointed in the Afghanistan withdrawal and kind of how it was handled. I think a lot of folks knew that the government was going to fall a lot quicker than maybe the administration acknowledged. So I was pretty disappointed in that. I think so far, you know, we'll see with what's going on in the Ukraine. I think swift, firm economic sanctions, implemented immediately, I think is the best way to go. I hope the president does that. I think that's the best way to go and and to continue to support the Ukrainian people. It's a democratic country that was moving in the right direction and this is an invasion. And it needs to be treated as such, of course, without not using American soldiers.

Taylor: You talked a bit in this meet and greet about health care. And you explain how you back kind of union health care plans, but you want the public option available. I was just looking back at the last few years. In 2019, you were an original cosponsor of the Medicare for All Act of 2019. But that same year, you were running for president and you campaigned against Medicare for All. And then in March of 2020, when the pandemic was just picking up, you had tweeted out, 'There's no more poignant reminder of the importance of universal health coverage than celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a global health pandemic.’ For people who see those old remarks and they say, you're wading into using Medicare for All, wading out to being against it, wading into universal health care. Where do you stand right now? What's the answer?

Tim: I think we need universal access. Health care is way too expensive and it's damaging a middle class family’s ability to be able to make ends meet. And so, health care is way too expensive and the reality of it is we need to make sure everybody has access to it. I don't think that means a government takeover. I don't think that means a single payer system. Because if you like to health care you have, whether you're in a union or not in a union, why should the government say no, you have to give that up to get into this other system? When the government doesn't necessarily run things as efficiently as we'd want them to anyway. So I'm for universal coverage, making it affordable, making sure people can't get denied because they have a pre-existing condition, negotiating drug prices through the Medicare program, which is going to be key. The VA does it. Why shouldn't we do it to get drug prices down? And really move to a system of prevention, where we're getting people healthy, keeping people healthy, so they're not putting a huge burden on the healthcare system. I think you should drop the Medicare age to about 50 or 55, allow people to buy into the Medicare program, which ultimately would take care of a good cohort of people that we see a lot back home and around Ohio. You're 50-years-old, you've been working in a mill for a long time, or you've been working in the food system for a long time at a grocery store, standing on your feet, you should have access to good health care and you should be able to pay for it. So making that an option for people to buy into the Medicare program after 50, I think would be a great opportunity. And it would also reduce the cost of the private insurance, because you're taking the oldest group of the private insurance market into the Medicare program. So that will drive down costs for individual people. So I think, again, we've got to become more creative, have more of an imagination, as we try to solve some of these problems. And I think it's eminently doable.

Taylor: Two more policy questions. And then just a couple political ones. On the pandemic, you had coronavirus, you were vaccinated. Are you boosted against COVID? 

Tim: Yeah.

Taylor: OK. What right now, as we kind of enter the warmer months and we see numbers dropping, what restrictions or mitigation efforts do you think should still be in place?

Tim: Well, I think we’ve got to learn the reality — that we’ve got to live with COVID. That's just the reality of it.And I think we can start moving away from the mask mandates — especially federal — and encourage everybody to get their vaccination, get their booster. We're still running into people and know family and friends who have passed away who didn't get the vaccination, you know? And it's just heartbreaking to see. And so encouraging people to get the vaccination. Let the local school district, let the local communities decide as to what they need. But we've got to keep the schools open, got to keep those kids’ butts in the seats, that's how they learn. If we're going to outcompete China, you got to be in school to learn, you got to get the skills you need. So keep their butts in the seats. Let the school district determined what ultimately they want to do with masks. Got to keep these businesses open and hopefully we can, you know, move through this. But we've got to recognize that we have to learn how to live with COVID in our lives. And I think the worst is behind us. And hopefully we can get the economy moving and hit a new phase of growth and prosperity in the United States.

Taylor: Are you comfortable with [your wife] Andrea teaching and then [your son] Brady being in a classroom where there might not be a mask mandate?

Tim: Yeah, I would be OK with that. Yeah, I'd be OK with that.

Taylor: You mention on your campaign website, talking about campaign finance, that you want to roll back Citizens United and end the influence of corporate special interests in elections. I checked OpenSecrets and they said this cycle, as of right now, you've accepted just under $600,000 in PAC money. So how do you square that?

Tim: Well, the rules are what they are. I think we absolutely need campaign finance reform. I think that the money that comes into the system is grotesque, quite frankly. But I also think, like, look, this is the system. And I'm not going to apologize for working with the business community either. You know, I mean, if we really love the workers, and we know we got to transform our economy, and we know we got to beat China, then American companies and American workers and American communities are going to be front and center for that. So I don't apologize at all for working with business. I know that may not be usual for a lot of Democrats, but I think if we move forward and we want to have the kind of economic growth we have, you’ve got to work with business. And if they want to support my campaign, I welcome businesses to support it.

Taylor: Last couple questions. You've been in Congress since 2003, almost two decades. Before that, you were a state lawmaker —

Tim: No gray hair. Don’t forget to mention that [laughs].

Taylor: What if a voter doesn't want, at this stage, to elevate a career politician?

Tim: Well, everyone's going to have their own view as to who they want to vote for. I would just say, you know, Washington is a place that needs somebody who understands what working people have gone through, whether you've been in Washington or not in Washington. But growing up in Niles, outside of Youngstown, I understand what has happened to our economy over the last 30 or 40 years. I understand how broken it is because it's happened in the community that I grew up in and the communities that I represent. And so I also have really good ideas on how to fix it. And we're starting to see those ideas come home and actually have some impact. You see Voltage Valley and Foxconn and moving towards electric trucks and electric vehicles and batteries. I've been talking about this for years. The Intel project —how do we reshore chip manufacturing and beat China? I've been working on these issues for years and years, and we're finally starting to get some movement on it. Now it's time to hit the gas pedal. And I know what we need to do. I know what the future that I want for my kids to look like in Ohio. I want these kids to have opportunity in Ohio. Look, if you want to go away, fine. If you want sunshine, maybe this isn't the best place. But if you want to come back and be with your family, and raise your own kids here, so that we can see our grandkids, that's what I'm fighting for. And I don't think there's anybody in this race who understands that in their bones like I do. And that's why I'm asking people for their support.

Taylor: For voters who may not be from Northeast Ohio, but they're familiar with Sherrod Brown because he's been a senator for a while, and then they see he's endorsed you and they hear your pitch and they say, ‘You sound like kind of a junior version of him.’ Is it safe to classify yourself as that?

Tim: I prefer a much younger version than Sherrod. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Sherrod's from Mansfield. I'm from Niles. You know, like we understand what's happened. And I remember when I first got to Congress, Sherrod and I were fighting against the trade deals and fighting for workers, and he was very much a mentor to me, him and Ted Strickland. On how to get this stuff done and how to work on this stuff. And so I’d probably say that Sherrod's focus on workers and my focus on workers is something that's needed in the United States Senate. And we would, by far, be the most pro-worker duo in the Senate in the entire country. And I think that would benefit Ohio. And again, it doesn't mean you're anti-business, it just means we’ve got to cut these workers in on the deal.

Taylor: Last question for you. Your primary opponent, Morgan Harper, has for several months requested to debate you. And your campaign said a week or two ago that you would take part in a debate in March. But you seem to say that it would be only if Traci Johnson, kind of a political unknown who also is on the ballot, could take part in the debate. The debate commission has separate rules in terms of how to qualify. If Johnson doesn't end up qualifying to those rules, will you debate Morgan Harper one on one? 

Tim: No. I just don't think it's fair. Look, I may be a seasoned congressman at this point, but the shoes been on the other foot. I've been in that position where you're scrapping, you're trying to get on the debate stage, you're trying to get the signatures to run for the United States Senate, you're putting yourself and your family out there. And somebody's going to say, 'Well, you don't count, you don't get to be on the debate stage.' That's wrong. It's not fair. If you have the guts to jump into the race, if you have the work ethic to be able to get the signatures needed and you care enough about it, and you put your family and your reputation on the line, some commission shouldn't tell you shouldn't have access to the debate stage. And I'm just not going to be for it. So I hope she makes it and I hope we have the debate. But if she's not, and there's some BS reason why she can't be on there, I'm not going to, you know, do it without somebody who's put the work in. I just don't think that's fair.

Taylor: What if voters want to hear a debate between you and Morgan?

Tim: Well, then the commission should let her on. I mean, I don't see any reason why there needs to be 10 different provisions on why you should get into a debate. Like, you're running, you’ve got the guts to do it, you did the work. Why wouldn’t you be on the debate stage?

End of interview.