New Hampshire didn’t make the cut in Tim Ryan’s presidential calculus. The U.S. Representative from Ohio and Democratic presidential candidate thinks this election comes down to four states.
“This is not a national election, this is an election about Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio,” Ryan said. “This is not about winning New York or California.”
Ryan pitched himself and unveiled a new K-12 education plan on a trip to the Granite State on Monday. The congressman, who’s running on his electability as a moderate, working-class Midwesterner, has yet to ascend from the back of the crowded Democratic field, but he thinks his odds in the national election should get him more votes in the primary.
“We’re gonna focus on electability. Where I come from, if you’re taking private insurance from people, for example, I think it could disqualify you from getting elected,” Ryan said, seeming to nod at progressive candidates like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, both of whom are polling above double digits as he struggles to consistently get to one percent.
“Where I come from” is a common refrain for Ryan, who lives in a state that has been ravaged by job loss and opioid addiction and went 51% Obama in 2012 before going 52% Trump four years later.
“I’ve been living in the epicenter of the problem,” Ryan said. “I know what’s happening in these communities. Youngstown, Ohio, is the epicenter of all of this stuff and knowing these workers is going to be crucial to winning the White House and being in office.”
His background makes him a tough matchup for President Donald Trump, he said.
“Donald Trump doesn’t want to run against someone like me,” said Ryan. “He doesn’t want to run against a young working class person who’s got 17 years experience. He’s the guy who lied to my constituents about ‘don’t sell your house’ and ‘we’re gonna bring jobs back’ and we’ve lost thousands of jobs since he’s been in.”
Ryan, who is married to a teacher and has three school-aged kids, presented a K-12 education plan focused on social-emotional learning in a yellow-walled conference room at the NEA’s New Hampshire office on Monday. A week after being on the rafters during the Democratic debates, the congressman was the center of attention as he hashed over details with a round table of Granite State teachers.
“To restructure our schools by focusing on trauma-based care, social-emotional learning, better nutrition, that’s gonna take some real time and attention,” Ryan said, proposing $50 billion for comprehensive school services and $100 billion toward school infrastructure.
The plan resonated with teachers. Anne-Marie Gagne, a social-emotional learning specialist who works in Berlin schools, said that opioid abuse and school shootings can be linked to the modern childhood anxiety that Ryan’s plan aims to address.
“We need to rethink education altogether,” said Gagne. “If we invest in our children, we’re gonna get much more back.”
Diana Griffin, a retired physical education teacher from New Ipswich who was quick to praise the school-nutrition efforts of Michelle Obama, was optimistic but skeptical.
“I agree with a lot of what he said,” Griffin said, citing Ryan’s proposed incentives to keep teachers working. “I’m just curious as to where it would come from.”
Ryan claimed his plan would be funded by restored corporate tax rates and would prepare a future workforce in an economy where jobs will be threatened by growing foreign economies and artificial intelligence.
“This is about us collectively re-framing what we need to do in the United States to become competitive,” Ryan said.