Rep. Tim Ryan believes Americans currently have the power to shift the trajectory of this country with the 2020 presidential election. 

Ryan, who represents the 13th district of Ohio, participated in a Zoom call hosted by the Kent State College Democrats on Tuesday for a Q&A and phone banking event. He answered questions about this upcoming presidential election, commenting on the current polls between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden in Ohio and other battleground states.

“We see the poll results in Pennsylvania up nine, Arizona up eleven, and Wisconsin up seven or eight,” Ryan said. “What we’ve seen in the last, probably two or three weeks, is a Fox News poll that showed Biden up five.” 

Ryan spoke on the important role Ohio’s voters will play in determining whether Biden will win the presidential election.

“Joe Biden has spent less than a million dollars in Ohio, and we are neck-in-neck in a state that Trump won by 8,” Ryan said, “We’re going to be able to move the needle; we just need to keep the pedal to the metal.”  

As of Oct. 5, both Biden and Trump are even in Ohio, according to CBS News. 

Ryan believes American citizens need to get out to the polls to end the current political climate. 

“What we need right now in America is for every citizen to meet the moment that we are in,” Ryan said. “This moment is, unfortunately, happening on our watch, and the question is how are we going to respond?” 

The most important goal citizens should have in mind is to “put an end to Trumpism” according to Ryan.

“We want that version of politics to be dead after this election,” Ryan said.  

When asked what he is doing as a representative to make sure all voices are advocated for in his work, Ryan expressed he tries to hire a young and diverse staff in order to get views from all different parts of his community. 

“We really try,” Ryan explained, “to focus on [having] a level of diversity, cultural diversity and diversity of thought.”

Kent State College Democrats President Tyler Gardner feels Ryan is representing Ohio’s 13th district well. 

“He represents a more working-class constituency and he gets a lot of the labor vote,” Gardner said. “He has a unique seat.”

Gardner agreed with Ryan about the magnitude of this year’s general election and the ripple effects it will have on citizens. 

“It’s just going to determine where as a country we go from here,” Gardner said. 

Ryan stated Biden is doing better in the current polls than Hillary Clinton was in the 2016 election. 

“I think the bottom is falling out for Trump,” Ryan said. “We’ve just got to capture this energy.”   

Bronwyn Wain is a politics reporter. Contact her at [email protected].

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Hi, I’m Lauren Sasala, a senior journalism student from Toledo. I’m also the editor in chief of The Kent Stater and KentWired this semester. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important news about Kent State and the Kent community. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate.