The Ohio senatorial election is around the corner, and the frequency of ads and, billboards,
texts, and phone calls directed at prospective voters have increased drastically.

AEveryone knows about J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan, but an informed voter should know not just what J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan they say about themselves and each other, but also what they purport to stand for.

Vance does have some positions that escape the contradictions within mainstream conservative
candidate. He is a pro-life politician who supports increased child tax credit, easy adoption, and other programs to ensure that mothers have the resources to take care of their children.

The pro-life stance presents serious problems when it comes to high-risk pregnancies, but Vance at the very least wants to make the post birth support of the child easier on the mother.

He also doesn’t claim to take a “tough-on-crime” stance towards people who are addicted to drugs, and states that he believes in second chances for addicted Ohioans. However, he holds many positions that the Republican party would be better off leaving behind.

He continues to make the unsubstantial claim that Critical Race Theory, a graduate level elective class, is being taught to people in primary school. He also attacks mail in voting without providing an argument against the integrity of casting votes in this manner.

Finally, he wants to become energy independent while keeping us shackled to the finite and damaging fossil fuels we now use.

Tim Ryan is center right, and while this means more progressive democrats in Ohio don’t have a
strong candidate to represent them, it also means that Ryan represents a more moderate and
substantial set of policy prescriptions.

Vance uses a lot of culture war talking points reminiscent of the former president, and it seems like Vance is trying to tap into Former U.S President Donald Trump’s voter base.

Ryan’s official platform is more detailed and less accusatory of his political rivals. It focuses more on what Ryan has done and wishes to continue to do. He expresses support for the rights of LGBTQ+ Ohioans, and this is important with the number of conservative politicians who voted against their right to marry in the wake of the Dobbs decision.

He also wants to invest in clean energy, and with a slew of recent natural disasters that are linked to the results of climate change, this should be a topic that weighs heavily on everyone’s minds. He supports reproductive rights, and those who do will want those people in congress, especially with the nation-wide ban proposed by Lindsay Graham on the table. Ryan also wants to invest in affordable healthcare.

Between the two of them, it seems relatively clear that J.D. Vance is running on talking points
and the credit that growing up in poor, rural America affords him.

In contrast, Ryan is running on a more moderate, substantial, and focused set of policy prescriptions. Every issue on Ryan’s official platform is more fleshed out, less accusatory, and aims at bipartisan solutions to the problems of Ohioans.

I support Ryan over Vance because the former seems like a center right moderate with a standard if inoffensive set of policy prescriptions, while Vance feels like a talking head with little of substance behind his words.