Ohio Democrats

Donate

Cincinnati Enquirer

ICYMI: Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Senate Race: Tim Ryan Blasts Lindsey Graham Abortion Ban As J.D. Vance Stays Quiet

Columbus, OH – According to a new report from Cincinnati Enquirer’s Haley BeMiller, J.D. Vance refused to answer whether he supports a national abortion ban but cheered a ban last year. Vance’s position is out of step not only with Ohioans but even Republican U.S. Senator Rob Portman, who Vance is vying to replace. 

Vance is also set to campaign with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham next month – standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest cheerleader for a national abortion ban. This isn’t the first time J.D. Vance has let Ohioans know his extreme and out-of-touch position on abortion – he’s compared abortion to slavery and called rape “inconvenient.” 

“J.D. Vance’s disgusting comments on abortion are further proof that he belongs nowhere near the U.S. Senate. There is no doubt J.D. Vance would be another vote for a national abortion ban and take away Ohio womens’ freedom to make healthcare decisions that should be between them and their doctors,” said Elizabeth Walters, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Senate Race: Tim Ryan blasts Lindsey Graham abortion ban as J.D. Vance stays quiet
Haley BeMiller 
September 15, 2022

  • U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan railed against a federal abortion ban introduced in the U.S. Senate this week, accusing “extremists” of trying to take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
     
  • The bill from South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnant person’s health is at risk. The proposal is unlikely to get a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate, but Graham said it would give Republicans fodder for their message on abortion ahead of the November midterms.
     
  • Vance’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, and the “Hillbilly Elegy” author has so far been quiet on Graham’s proposal. Vance doesn’t support exceptions for cases of rape or incest and said last year that children shouldn’t be punished for “inconvenient” circumstances around their birth.
     
  • He’s offered mixed messages on whether he would support a federal abortion ban. In a July “Meet the Press” appearance, he said states should be left to “figure this out for now” and signaled support for Ohio’s six-week abortion ban. Months prior, he said during a podcast interview that he would “like abortion to be illegal nationally,” although he argued a federal ban is unlikely in the current political climate.
     
  • “Let’s say Roe v. Wade is overruled,” he said in the January interview. “Ohio bans abortion in 2022 − let’s say 2024. Then every day, George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately Black women to get them to go have abortions in California. Of course, the left will celebrate this as a victory for diversity…If that happens, do you need some federal response to prevent it from happening because it’s really creepy? I’m pretty sympathetic to that, actually. Hopefully we get to a point where Ohio bans abortion and California and the Soroses of the world respect it.”
     
  • Vance is scheduled to headline a Summit County Republican Party dinner with Graham next month.
     
  • Graham’s legislation came just days before a Hamilton County judge blocked Ohio’s six-week ban for two weeks. A USA TODAY Network Ohio/Suffolk University poll released Thursday found 68% of likely Ohio voters oppose that policy, and 84% supported exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
     
  • Some Republicans balked at Graham’s decision to introduce the ban in the midst of a key election cycle. After the court overturned Roe, many GOP leaders argued abortion policy should be left up to states and worked to shift voters’ focus back to the economy. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week that it should remain a state issue.
     
  • “Abortion is a very sensitive and emotional issue with strong feelings on both sides and therefore should be decided by the elected representatives of the people,” Portman said. “Through its Dobbs ruling, the Supreme Court made this clear. I believe this was the right ruling, and now our elected leaders in the states will make the decisions on this issue.”

###

DeWine Debate Watch: Day 12

Columbus, OH — As debate season starts to ramp up in the closing weeks and days of the election cycle, Mike DeWine has continued to duck committing to debates across Ohio with Mayor Nan Whaley, even as the Mayor has already publicly agreed and challenged DeWine to a number of debates. DeWine also dodged a debate with his primary opponents earlier this year, signaling that he is scared to defend his record to Ohioans, especially since he’s debated political opponents in the past. It’s ‘DeWine Debate Watch’ Day 12, reminding Ohioans that DeWine won’t even try to make his case to them as he seeks re-election to the highest statewide executive office. 

“Mike DeWine clearly knows his record over the last four years of selling out working families in favor of the wealthy and well-connected is not going to be popular with Ohio voters. If DeWine can’t even muster the political courage to tell Ohioans why they should re-elect him, he doesn’t deserve the job and should be held publicly accountable for his cowardice,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Ohioans deserve answers from DeWine on a number of key issues, including his promise to ‘go as far as we can’ to rip away reproductive rights, his broken promise to ‘do something’ to combat gun violence in Ohio, his connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history and his role in the failed redistricting process that produced GOP-gerrymandered maps and cost Ohioans millions of dollars. 

Read more from the Cincinnati Enquirer here and below: 

Cincinnati Enquirer Opinion: Dan Sewell: Ohio Governor Might Sit Out Debates While Sitting On Poll Lead
Dan Sewell
September 7, 2022 

  • Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is sounding like a debate-dodger. The Republican incumbent hasn’t agreed so far to debating his Democratic challenger, former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. He hasn’t ruled out formal debates, but he keeps talking about alternatives such as newspaper endorsement meetings.
  • Apparently, people should have taken the opportunity to ask the governor about Ohio infrastructure needs while he was eating a sauerkraut ball or admiring the 4-H Club members’ market lambs.
  • “I don’t think there’s been any governor that’s ever had more press conferences than me,” DeWine also said. That might be true, and DeWine has usually been accessible to the news media over the years.
  • But that’s not the point.
  • Debates are an opportunity for voters to compare and contrast candidates in real time; seeing how they answer each other’s challenges to their records, how quick they are thinking on their feet when hit with unexpected questions that go beyond their talking points, and how clear they are on their visions for the state.
  • And they can produce defining moments, such as the angry nose-to-nose confrontation this year between former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and businessman Mike Gibbons that made them look decidedly un-senatorial during a Republican primary debate for the Senate nomination.
  • So why is DeWine, who at 75 has been running in campaigns in Ohio since Whaley, now 46, was a baby, balking at debating? “If Mike DeWine is afraid to debate me and defend his record as governor, why is he even running for-election?” [Nan] Whaley asked in a Sept. 2 tweet.

###