On Saturday U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan (D) of Ohio’s 13th District came to Reno to help rally voters for Joe Biden. He attended a caucus training organized by local firefighters urging them to focus on defeating President Trump.
About 26 people attended the training, including seven firefighters from Local 731, and 22 from Operating Engineers Local 3 in Reno. He spoke for about 30 minutes about Biden and the election, and also about where he comes from in Ohio.
“It’s older industrial, steel, rubber. I have an Akron city background that’s built the old rubber Mills, the old steel mills, the auto plants that you should have 16,000 workers in, and they’re now down. It’s actually closed. We’re trying to get an electric vehicle plant in there. But that’s kind of where I grew up, where I came from.”
Ryan mentioned other Democratic campaigns and their themes, with a bit of veiled reference to candidate Bernie Sanders. He also talked about his personal and Democratic family roots, along with the importance of defeating Donald Trump and bringing the nation back together after the election.
“But to me, we hear a lot of talk about revolutions, and revolutions, and wanting to start a revolution. In my mind, the revolution is getting Donald Trump out of the White House! That’s the revolution. And then we gotta bring the country together.
“I mean, who better? I’m a Democrat. Been a Democrat my whole life. My parents are Democrats. My grandparents are Democrats. My great grandparents were Italian-Catholic Democrats. It’s like, Jesus Christ is on the wall, FDR, and John F. Kennedy. And that’s how I grew up. And to me, we’ve got to get back to the working class. A lot of people say, ‘Oh, you’re talking about white people.’ I’m talking about white people, black people, brown people, people who work who are struggling to make ends meet!”
He gets it. And I think that’s really, really important because the guy in the White House now, doesn’t get it.”
In an exclusive interview with This Is Reno, Congressman Ryan explained why he came to Reno and why he is campaigning for Joe Biden.
“The mountains. No, just kidding. It’s beautiful out here. I’m here supporting Joe Biden. I think that he is the exact person we need at this time as Democrats to be our nominee. To, one, give us our best chance at winning in those industrial states where I come from.
“I’ve spent my entire life in Northeast Ohio. These are the states we have to win: Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin…I want to make sure that people in Nevada recognize and understand, in my mind, the importance of nominating Joe Biden.”
When asked if Congressman Ryan was talking to someone one-to-one about Joe Biden, what would he say, he responded:
“He knows what you’re going through. You know, I think the thing about Joe Biden, his life story from the time he was young. In Scranton, you know, to losing family members at a very young age in his 20’s to what he’s just recently gone through. He knows that there’s a lot of pain and suffering out there and he understands that a lot of people are going through it and it could be a health issue, it could be a death, it could be, you know, daily struggles.
“He gets it. And I think that’s really, really important because the guy in the White House now, doesn’t get it. He does not understand what average people are going through. And Joe Biden does. And I think that’s the most important thing, that a President can have is a real empathy, [an] understanding for what the struggles of average people are.”
The Nevada Democratic caucus is Saturday, Feb. 22.
