by Jack Windsor
COLUMBUS, Ohio – U.S. Senate candidates Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance appeared on television together for the third and last time Tuesday during the Fox News Town Hall that drew 2.9 million viewers.
The first two events were head-to-head debates, and the Vance campaign told The Ohio Press Network that Ryan would not agree to a third but accepted the format of Tuesday’s event which gave each candidate his own segment with Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum to answer questions from an audience of Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
Ryan was asked by an audience member, “Can you look me in the face and tell me that government expenditures on green energy subsidies through the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA] that increase our national debt are in any way lessening my burden at the gas station and the grocery store?
Ryan’s response: “I could not say that right now in the present moment.”
The Democrat proceeded to talk about his effort to get “a huge natural gas component in the Inflation Reduction Act which I supported and worked to get in there,” before pivoting to tout “a cracker plant in Eastern Ohio that will create thousands of union construction jobs,” before reiterating that in the short term the IRA will not create any relief for Ohioans at the pump or grocery store.
Ryan voted for the IRA.
According to Ryan the inflation solution is a tax cut in the short term to put money in people’s pockets while streamlining permitting for projects (that would otherwise take five or six years) and beefing up natural gas production in order to export it to Eastern Europe and China. He noted, “We can address a lot of our climate goals doing that.”
The IRA is projected to increase taxes by $16.6 billion in 2023 alone for taxpayers earning under $200,000. In the long run it is projected to reduce economic output by 0.2 percent and eliminate 29,000 full-time equivalent jobs while reducing after-tax incomes for taxpayers in every income category.
While answering questions later in his segment, Ryan said that marijuana should be legalized and taxed.
Then, when asked about President Biden’s suggestion that oil companies should pay a windfall tax (emphasis ours) for their high profits, Ryan evaded the question. When it was brought back to him, he said, “I haven’t looked at exactly what [President Biden] wants to do. I think the fact that oil companies are making huge profits and having stock buybacks right now, while an average person here is paying nearly $4 a gallon, I think that’s wrong.”
According to information compiled by the partisan National Republican Senatorial Committee, Ryan has voted 113 times to increase taxes by $6.74 trillion.
Vance was also asked about high prices from a Town Hall attendee:
“As a single mom one of my greatest concerns is the high cost of groceries and the high cost of prescription medications. So what will you do to help lower those costs so that people are literally not having to choose between buying food and buying their medications?”
The Republican said, “The reasons why we have this terrible inflation is because the Biden administration, backed by Tim [Ryan], supported a lot of borrowing and spending, throwing fuel on the fire which has caused the price of everything to go up.”
Vance said inflation and economic woes are self-inflicted wounds brought about by policy choices that have “declared war on America’s energy sector” which has driven up manufacturing costs, diesel fuel prices and the expense for trucks that take food to the grocery store.
“Stop borrowing and spending, and actually open up Ohio’s energy markets and then we will start to bring those prices under control,” said Vance.
Other notes
Ryan, when cornered on his past comments about eliminating fracking on federal lands, said he is “1000%” in favor of fracking (just not on federal lands and in an environmentally conscious way) and U.S. energy independence.
Vance clarified his past comments about 2020 elections. He mentioned the unconstitutional election practices in places like Pennsylvania (which didn’t follow its own constitution in 2020) and meddling “big technology companies in bed with the communist Chinese who are censoring information about American politics.”
Baier and MacCallum asked the audience twice to vote by raising a hand. One vote regarded the U.S.-Mexico border and whether it’s secure; one person raised a hand.
The second vote was on whether audience members think inflation and the economy are the top issues in the election; nearly everyone raised a hand.
Ryan received applause numerous times, especially when he said, “And we also have to figure out, how in the hell are all these criminals getting their hands on all these guns? How does that happen?” He was also cheered when he entered the room in which the event took place.
However, the Democrat was booed loudly when he falsely claimed that an officer was killed by people who attended the January 6 event in Washington, D.C.; one audience member shouted Ryan was telling a lie.
Vance received loud cheers when he entered the room during a commercial break and a standing ovation when he was introduced while cameras were live. He seemed relaxed and smooth in his responses while Ryan looked tight, and his answers sounded rehearsed and disjointed at times.
The race may determine which party takes control of the Senate. The winner will replace retiring Republican Rob Portman, who is Ohio’s junior senator, while Democrat Sherrod Brown is considered the Buckeye State’s senior senator. Brown’s seat is up for grabs in 2024.
A victory for Vance would be considered a “hold” for Republicans while a win for Ryan would be a pick up for the donkeys. FiveThirtyEight just tipped the scale to the right after Democrats were long projected to keep their majority in the Senate. The opinion poll site shows Republicans winning a majority in 54 out of 100 forecasts.
Analysts are forecasting a 53-47 or 52-48 GOP majority in the Senate.
The GOP needs to gain only five seats in the U.S. House to recapture the majority in the lower chamber and Fox News rankings report that if Republicans win 50% of toss up races, they may gain a 19-seat majority.
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Jack Windsor is the editor-in-chief of The Ohio Press Network.
Photo “JD Vance” by JD Vance. Photo “Tim Ryan” by Tim Ryan.
You must take a look at what newly hired Consultant, Steve Schmidt has to say about the TownHall Meeting.
https://www.rawstory.com/steve-schmidt-levels-corrupt-fox-news-after-town-hall-rubbed-jd-vance-like-he-was-veal/
This has got to be the nastiest campaign Ohio has had since Brown vs Renacci.