Tim Ryan (politician)

Elections

After Jim Traficant was convicted on criminal charges in 2002, Ryan declared his candidacy for the 17th District. As the result of redistricting following the 2000 census, the 17th, which had long been based in Youngstown, had been pushed to the west and now included much of Portage County and part of Akron. Before the redistricting, all of Akron had been part of the 14th District, represented by eight-term Democrat Tom Sawyer. The 14th had been eliminated in the year 2000 redistricting; most of it was drawn into the 13th District of fellow Democrat Sherrod Brown, but Sawyer's home was drawn into the 17th. Ryan was initially seen as an underdog in a six-way Democratic primary that included Sawyer.^[2]

In the 2002 Democratic primary, Ryan defeated Sawyer, who was seen as insufficiently labor-friendly in the newly-drawn district. In the November 2002 general election, he faced Republican Insurance Commissioner Ann Womer Benjamin as well as Traficant, who ran as an independent from his prison cell. He won with 51 percent of the vote, besting Benjamin by a solid 14-point margin. When he took office in January 2003, he was the youngest Democrat in the House, at 29 years of age. He has been reelected five times,^[4][5] only once facing another contest nearly as close as his first one. In 2010, he was held to 53 percent of the vote; Traficant, running as an independent, took 16 percent of the vote. In every other election since his first run for the district, Ryan has won at least 67 percent of the vote.

His district was renumbered as the 13th in 2012, and was pushed westward, absorbing most of Akron.

Tenure

Congressman Tim Ryan talks about Making America Competitive Again and Restoring U.S. Innovation Leadership

Ryan speaking at a rally for Hillary Clinton, October 2016

In his first year in office, Ryan was one of seven members of Congress who voted against the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act, and one of 8 Congressmen who opposed ratification of FTC's establishment of a National Do Not Call Registry.^[6]

Ryan was a member of the "30 Something" Working Group,^[7] which is a Congressional caucus that includes those members of the United States House of Representatives who are Democrats and have not yet reached the age of 40. It was organized by the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to energize and engage younger people in politics by focusing on issues that are important to them.^[8]

Ryan voted for the Stupak Amendment restricting federal funding for abortions, but in January 2015, he announced that having "gained a deeper understanding of the complexities and emotions that accompany the difficult decisions [about whether to end a pregnancy]" over his time in public office, he had reversed his position on abortion and now identified as pro-choice.^[9]

Before the 2004 presidential election, Ryan spoke on the House floor in an impassioned speech denouncing the Bush administration's denial of a draft reinstatement, comparing this to the administration's previous claims that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, the Bush tax cuts would create jobs, and other such claims.^[10] He repeated in September 2006 with an equally-heated speech criticizing what he felt to be the Bush administration's tendency to distract the public from key issues like the war in Iraq and the economy.^[11]

In 2010, Ryan introduced the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which sought punitive trade tariffs on countries, notably China, that were engaging in currency manipulation. It passed the House overwhelmingly but never made it to the floor in the Senate. In an October 2010 interview with conservative magazine Human Events, Ryan said tax increases on small businesses were necessary "because we have huge deficits. We gotta shore up Social Security. We gotta shrink our deficits".^[12][13]

Ryan initiated a bid to replace Pelosi as House Minority Leader on November 17, 2016, prompted by colleagues following the 2016 presidential election.^[14] After Pelosi agreed to give more leadership opportunities to junior members,^[15] she defeated Ryan by a vote of 134–63 on November 30.^[16]

Ryan helped Adi Othman, an undocumented immigrant in Youngstown, Ohio, remain in the United States.^[17] Othman had lived in the United States for nearly 40 years, ran several businesses in Youngstown, was married to a US citizen and had four US-born children.^[17] Ryan repeatedly presented a bill to Congress whereby Othman would be granted a more thorough review of his case to stay in the United States (Othman disputed a verdict by immigration officials on a matter which affected his legal status); the fact that the bill was in motion meant that Othman could temporarily stay.^[17] However, in February 2018, Othman was deported from the United States after Trump emboldened ICE to crack down on undocumented immigrants.^[17] Ryan condemned the deportation, saying "To watch these families get ripped apart is the most heart-breaking thing any American citizen could ever see ... Because you are for these families, it doesn't mean you are not for a secure border."^[17]

Committees and caucuses

Ryan is a member of the following committees:

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Committee on the Budget

Ryan is a member of the following caucuses:

• Co-chair of the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus
• Co-chair of the Congressional Manufacturing Caucus
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus^[18]
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Congressional Arts Caucus^[19]
• Ohio River Basin Congressional Caucus
• Afterschool Caucuses^[20]