Democratic Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the U.S. needs to “kill and confront” the “extremist” Republican movement.
Ryan and co-host Willie Geist were discussing J.D. Vance, Ryan’s Republican challenger for the open Senate seat in the upcoming election. Geist noted a recent poll showing the two candidates trending closely, with Geist asking Ryan if he had a message for Republican voters in Ohio.
“I’m one of the most bipartisan members of congress,” Ryan said. “The last two congresses I have been in the top 10% of most bipartisan. I want to work across the aisle. Look, Democrats aren’t right on everything, and I’m willing to sit down and have conversations about how we can move out of this age of stupidity and into an age of reconciliation and reform, how do we fix all of these broken systems.”
WATCH:
“Some of those answers will come from Republicans, not the extremists that we’re dealing with every single day. We’ve got to kill and confront that movement,” Ryan continued, before going on to say working with “normal, mainstream Republicans” is needed. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: Ohio Senate Candidate Tim Ryan Said He Believes ‘The Current Criminal Justice System Is Racist’, Called It ‘New Jim Crow’)
Ryan then urged supporters to donate to his reelection campaign to “help us out this extremist movement to bed.”
Vance is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and both he and Ryan are trying to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Portman. A recent joint Cincinnati Inquirer & Suffolk University poll shows Ryan beating Vance by 1%. Taking into account a 2020-like polling error, the race’s results flip with Vance defeating Ryan by 7%.
Ryan’s party leader, President Joe Biden, has recently went on a smear campaign, labeling millions of Republicans as “extremists” and threats to democracy.
During a recent Philadelphia speech, Biden attacked Trump supporters.
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic.”
“There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country. MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth, but in the shadow of lies.”