Both Ohio Senate candidates Democrat Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) and Republican J.D. Vance are making stops in central Ohio as the two vie for votes in the closing hours of Election Day.
Both candidates projected confidence as they canvassed the state in the final days of Ohio’s U.S. Senate race. The candidates spent their weekend urging supporters to get out and vote.
“Get out there and vote. Get everybody to vote, pound the pavement, get every person you know. Knock on every door you can,” Vance told voters while canvassing in Akron.
Vance traversed the state late last week with Governor Mike DeWine and other GOP candidates running for statewide office. Most notably, Vance will join former President Donald Trump at a rally on Monday in the Dayton area. Vance will end Election Day in Columbus on Tuesday by attending the Ohio Republican Party’s election night watch party.
“My consistent view here is that we’re going to win. I do think the polls, whatever they say, I think they’re under-representing a very significant part of our base. And so if they’re good for me, I think we’re going to win by a bigger margin. If they’re bad for me, I still think we’re going to win,” Vance said Sunday during a campaign event in Ashland.
Over the weekend, Ryan visited Chillicothe, Cincinnati, and Columbus before heading to northeast Ohio to finish out the race. Ryan’s Northeast Ohio campaign appearances continues Tuesday in Struthers, Cleveland, Akron, and Kent. He also will end Election Day in central Ohio, and Ryan and his wife will vote Tuesday morning in his hometown of Niles. Ryan has largely campaigned on his own rather than joining forces with other Democratic candidates.
“There has been great early voter turnout. We are just grinding it out. Making sure our voters are getting to the polls and it’s looking really good,” Ryan said over the weekend.
Emerson College’s final survey of the state’s midterm elections found Vance leading Ryan by 8 points, 51 percent to 43 percent. Vance’s support improved 5 points from Emerson’s poll of the race last month, while Ryan’s support fell 2 points.
Only 4 percent of respondents said in the new poll that they were undecided, but Vance’s lead increases to 9 points when their preferences are included.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “JD Vance” by JD Vance. Photo “Tim Ryan” by Congressman Tim Ryan. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by EEBS27. CC BY-SA 4.0.
