A week ago, Ohio Senate nominees J.D. Vance (R) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D) engaged in a heated first debate, which saw Vance throw verbal jab after verbal jab at Ryan in a bid to prove the world once and for all when it comes down to one on one debates with his opponents, Vance is a winner.
The second debate, which took place on Monday night in Youngstown, was just like the first but this time Vance was slashed by Ryan in a frenzied attack on a key issue in an exchange that is bound to get a spot on the highlight reel of local news channels.
One moderator inevitably asked Ryan what his thoughts were about the “Great Replacement Theory,” one of the theories that is often employed as a “gotcha” question on Republicans who do not support open borders. However, in this case, it was a question addressed to Ryan likely in order to make him appear more likable and to accuse Vance of being a supporter of the “racist, extremist” theories that are believed to be responsible for the mass shootings in El Paso and Buffalo.
Vance, however, was in complete disbelief and did not even let Ryan finish before pointing out how Ryan's claims about his position as well as persistent false allegations that he was a perpetrator of “racism” led to frequent attacks from “scumbags online and in person” on his children who are biracial (Vance's spouse Usha was born of Indian descent).
“We are sick of it,” Vance declared in the fiery exchange. “You can be a believer in the border without being racist. You can be a believer in your nation without being a person of color.” Vance then turned to Ryan and accused him of being “desperate” in the sense that he'd “slander” Vance and his family members on the subject and called it “disgraceful.”
In a separate and important part of the debate, Vance said that the things Ryan spoke about during the debate regarding immigration security “actually sounds okay” but that it's also evidence to show that Tim Ryan has two faces because Ryan has “voted for amnesty” multiple times while an elected representative of Congress and has voted against the border fund “multiple times.” Vance added that during the State of the Union address wherein, instead of hiring an unemployed steelworker (who Vance said didn't have an employment opportunity “because Ryan didn't do his”), Ryan brought an illegal alien to the country.
Concerning the issue of the right to abortion, Vance changed the subject to Ryan, just the way he did during the first debate, depicting Ryan as the true radical when it comes down to the so-called right to abortion.
Vance also criticized Ryan for his support of abolishing cash bail, an issue that places Ryan directly on the right side of the criminal-free section in the Democratic party in a time where the issue of crime is a major concern for voters.
The main focus of the campaign has been to depict Ryan as a person who does one thing while in Ohio, but a completely different person after he's moved to Washington, D.C. On the campaign trail, and during both debates, Vance has done a fantastic job of presenting his case on this front, and moreover is one of the major reasons why Vance has held a significant advantage over Tim Ryan in most polling until now.
It's true that anything could take place in the next two weeks, but Vance has held his own over the course of the campaign, disproving and rebutting the prevailing perceptions of Republicans and even exposing Ryan as a fraudster throughout the process. More, please.
