Exclusive—J.D. Vance: We Need a ‘New Generation’ of Leaders, Not Tim Ryan’s ‘Old Generation’

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Republican J.D. Vance, running against Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) for the state’s open United States Senate seat, blasted his opponent by saying the country needs a “new generation of leaders,” not the “old generation” like his opponent.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News the weekend before last, the Ohio Senate candidate blasted Ryan’s “charade” of pretending to be independent of his party and saying the country needs a new generation of leaders while still voting with them 100 percent of the time.

The interview took place in Chillicothe, roughly 100 miles outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, while the Buckeye State Republican was making a swing through the southeast part of the state to channel his Appalachian roots with two weeks left in the race. Vance made multiple stops starting in the village of Gallipolis, a stone’s throw from West Virginia, and ending in Mount Orabm, roughly 40 miles east of Cincinnati.

“Of course, we need a generation of new leaders,” Vance told Breitbart News when asked about his opponent claiming the same thing.

However, the Buckeye State Republican explained that his “instinctive reaction” to wanting new leaders “means [Ryan] need[s] to go home and let me go to the Senate … because he is the definition of the old generation leadership.”

“This whole charade that he’s trying to pull off, being an independent, just doesn’t match the voting record at all,” he added. “If you were going to try to run a campaign as an independent from your party’s leadership, then vote against the Inflation Reduction Act, or vote against Build Back Better.”

As Vance noted, throughout Ryan’s campaign, he has attempted to portray himself as being independent of his party’s leadership, but as Breitbart News has reported in the past, the congressman has voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joe Biden 100 percent of the time in the most recent Congress.

In fact, during the first debate, the congressman again attempted to distance himself from his leadership, saying politicians “who don’t have the guts to stand up to their own party” are a “huge threat to democracy.” Ryan even went so far as to say he has aligned himself with former President Donald Trump’s policies on occasion, even though he only voted with him 16 percent of the time.

“So [Ryan’s] entire argument is contradicted by his actual voting record. He’s not an independent. He votes with Biden [and] Pelosi 100 percent of the time. He does exactly what they tell him to do. But if he goes to the Senate, he’ll do exactly what Chuck Schumer tells them to do because that’s his entire record of public life,” Vance continued.

Vance also spoke to Breitbart News about the need for a new Congress to reverse federal immigration laws that allow multinational corporations to replace American professionals — often in high-paying STEM jobs — with cheaper foreign workers on the H-1B visa program, in addition to acknowledging that the U.S. must “protect” American single-family homes and farmland from foreign investors such as China and billionaires such as Bill Gates.