Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said Wednesday that the Democratic Party lacks a national leader.
“Right now there’s not any major leader of the [Democratic] party,” Ryan said on C-SPAN. “Right now I don’t think the average person would really identify anybody clearly.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have shown to be leaders of the legislative branches of government, but there is no clear leader, Ryan said.
“I guess it’s unknown.”
WATCH: @RepTimRyan (D-OH) says “there’s really not any major leader of the [#Democratic] party… I have no real desire to run again” pic.twitter.com/yoTOQCMJKk
— Washington Journal (@cspanwj) July 19, 2017
However, Ryan noted that parties tend to go through without a defined leader periodically. “This is not unusual,” Ryan said. “For the longest time, Republicans really didn’t have a real leader, and that gets galvanized through presidential elections, and leaders emerge.”
When asked about whether he could consider running to be a leader, he responded that he does not have any real desire to run for leadership again.
“I don’t have any interest in doing that,” he added.
Despite his dismissal, Ryan said that he will use his voice more now that he has a little bit of a bigger microphone after November. He said he will try “to shape the national party and to try to get the party back on that economic message” that he believes is critical.
“It’s not just about politics,” he explained. “It’s not just about ‘OK how do we win elections.’ You win elections because then you can implement your ideas and, in my estimation, ideas that will help people.”