Dem Rep Tim Ryan: Democrats Have Become ‘a Coastal Party’

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) said he is challenging Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for the Democratic House leadership post because the Democratic Party is currently not national party but has become a “coastal party.”

Ryan said, “Well I think you think the next election is going to be different and the next elections haven’t been different. My level of frustration came from the idea that we’re going to have for two more years the same conversation as we have been having since 2010. I think the level of frustration in our caucus is as great as I have seen it.”

“It’s time to do something about it, not just talk about it,” he continued. “Because now we’re not even the national party. We’re a coastal party. And we’ve got to move forward. If we’re not going to get voters in Ohio, Wisconsin Michigan, Minnesota, go back down south—when I first came to congress we had members form Tennessee. We have to go back there and campaign and get those folks in the fold.”

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