U.S. Rep Tim Ryan (left), JD Vance (right)
COLUMBUS—Ohio’s U.S. Senate candidates, Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance, each announced Friday that they’ve accepted multiple debate invitations, though there are major differences in what each of them has agreed to.
Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Nan Whaley has been vocally pushing Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to agree to debate her for weeks, but the governor said Friday he’s still considering what to do.
Tim Ryan, a congressman from the Niles area, and Vance, an author and first-time candidate, each accepted invitations by WLWT-TV to debate in Hamilton. Ryan’s campaign said in a release the debate is scheduled for Oct. 4, though a Vance release stated the date has yet to be determined.
Instead, Vance accepted an invitation to another debate on Oct. 4 – hosted by WJW-TV in Cleveland.
Besides WLWT-TV, Ryan committed to debates being organized by WFMJ-TV in Youngstown on Sept. 26 and by the Ohio Debate Commission in Akron on Oct. 12.
Ryan is open to additional debates besides the three he accepted, according to his campaign manager, Dave Chase.
“Once JD agrees to these three debates, Tim Ryan will debate JD any other time and place,” Chase said in a statement.
When asked what the disconnect was with the WLWT debate, Ryan campaign spokeswoman Izzi Levy said “You’d have to ask [Vance’s campaign] what the disconnect is, because we were told and agreed to an October 4 debate in Hamilton” on Miami University’s satellite campus there.
Asked if Ryan would agree to a WJW debate on a different day, Levy replied: “I think that is a future conversation. We’ve been very clear that we want to see Vance accept these three debates (Ryan has agreed to attend) … before we commit to any more, and he does not seem to have done that.”
Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer has reached out to a Vance campaign spokesman.
Officials with WFMJ and the ODC told cleveland.com they’ve been in touch with Vance’s campaign but that the Republican hasn’t yet given them an answer one way or the other.
Conventional political wisdom says that the underdogs in campaigns should seek to hold debates, as it gives them publicity and a chance to either win over voters or cause the frontrunner to make a public misstep. Recent surveys shows Vance with a narrow lead over Ryan, while DeWine has a double-digit polling lead over Whaley.
Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton, announced Thursday that she accepted an invitation from Nexstar, which owns WJW as well as stations in Columbus, Dayton and Youngstown, to debate in Columbus on either Oct. 11 or Oct. 12.
Whaley has been making more noise than Ryan about her opponent’s hesitancy to debate, even making it the topic of a recent fundraising email asking for campaign donations.
“Ohioans deserve to hear from both myself and Governor DeWine on the important issues they’re facing before voting this November,” Whaley said in a statement. “It’s a shame that DeWine is too scared to debate me and defend his record across this state.”
DeWine, who lives about 25 miles east of Dayton in Greene County, told reporters Friday that he and his campaign staff will look at the Nexstar debate proposal.
Even if he rejects that debate, DeWine added, he’s sure he and Whaley will square off in newspaper editorial board meetings this fall, some of which (including cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer’s editorial board) stream the meetings online and serve as de facto debates.
Betsy Sullivan, who leads the cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer editorial board, said in an email that, this year, “We will be inviting the candidates to an endorsement interview, as we always do.”
DeWine also said, “I’m out every single day talking with the people of the state of Ohio. There’s been no governor that’s had more press conferences than I had, answered more questions asked by the news media.”
The governor’s campaign offered a similar statement after he turned down an offer to debate his Republican primary opponents earlier this year. In 2018, DeWine held three general-election campaign debates with Democratic opponent Richard Cordray.
