Congressman Jim Jordan explained Wednesday he not only thinks Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance will defeat his Democratic opponent, but also knows it’s going to be a banner midterm election for the GOP.
First, weighing in on the Senate race in the Buckeye State, Jordan told Chris Cuomo on his new show NewsNation that Vance has “hit his stride.”
“I think his campaign is off to where they want to be, off to and running great,” he said. “And I think Tim Ryan, as J.D. points out, Tim Ryan has voted with [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, he’s voted with [President] Biden, he's voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which didn’t reduce inflation, actually made the problem worse.”
But how does Jordan know Republicans are in good shape come November?
“You know it’s a good year when Joe Biden has to go to Oregon to help the Democratic candidate for governor, a state we haven’t won in 40 years,” he said, “and you also know it’s a good year when Tim Ryan spent the entire summer acting like he was a Trump Republican.”
Biden traveled to Oregon last week to give some assistance to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, “who is in danger of losing in a state where a Republican has not been elected governor since 1982,” Reuters reports.
The race for the governorship pits Democrat Tina Kotek against Republican Christine Drazan and an independent candidate, Betsy Johnson, a former Democrat who is financially backed by Nike co-founder Phil Knight. All three women are former state legislators. Incumbent Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, cannot run for re-election because of term limits.
Biden, who won the state by 16 points over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, is campaigning for Kotek just as recent public opinion polls suggest Drazan has pulled into the lead. The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia's Center for Politics consider the race a tossup between the major party candidates. Johnson trails in third place but appears to be siphoning votes away from the Democrat. (Reuters)