Ohio Republicans focused on winning a battleground Senate race still find things to admire in Tim Ryan just days before the crucial midterm elections

• Senate hopefuls JD Vance and Tim Ryan are making their closing pitches to Ohio voters.
• Some Buckeye State Republicans give Democrat Ryan points for his fighting spirit.

AKRON, Ohio — While they certainly want to keep their Senate seat bright red just days from now, Republicans in the battleground state of Ohio aren't writing off Democratic challenger Tim Ryan entirely.

"I'd been willing to vote for Tim Ryan — if he was just a little bit more mainstream on abortion," MAGA fan Courtney Drenan, who recently vowed to withhold her support from Trump-backed nominee JD Vance, said of the biggest obstacle to her crossing the aisle next Tuesday.

Peeling off disaffected Republicans like Drenan could help Ryan narrow the gap between himself and the "ass-kisser" he's trying to beat in order to keep Democratic control of the 50-50 Senate.

The race between first-time candidate Vance and the 10-term Democratic lawmaker is coming down to the wire in a state Trump carried by eight points just two years ago.

Ryan has worked to keep his underdog Senate bid competitive with little outside help from the national party, running a populist campaign that has him racing to over a dozen cities across the Buckeye State between now and election day.

Along the way, Ryan has played up a self-styled independent streak that includes challenging California Democrat Nancy Pelosi for speaker in 2016 (he lost) and throwing elbows at current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"I will get to the Senate and be beholden to absolutely nobody, right? And I will be, probably, a royal pain in the ass when I get there," Ryan told Politico in late October.

Guernsey County GOP chair Darrel Fawcett, who said he's firmly in the Vance camp, gave Ryan credit for sticking it to his own party every now and again.

"He did buck Pelosi, whenever it was he tried to run against her. So I think he feels like they need to have new Democrats on their side," Fawcett told Insider Wednesday at a GOP rally in neighboring Zanesville, Ohio.

"I just don't know that he's the guy to lead it," Fawcett said. He added that while Ryan is "portraying himself as a working man's representative" as he barnstorms Ohio's 88 counties, his congressional voting record shows "that's not what he is when he gets to Washington."

Drenan begs to differ.

"He voted with Trump on trade. I think that's good," she said, citing Ryan's support for Trump's rebrand of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

His current stance on abortion, though, is the sticking point Drenan can't get past right now.

While he entered politics in the pro-life camp, Ryan has switched sides over time.

He called the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade earlier this summer "disastrous," billing the preservation of abortion rights as a top priority if he gets elected to the Senate. "It has never been more important that we expand our pro-choice majority, end the filibuster, and pass legislation to protect the fundamental right to an abortion," he said in a statement.

That's going too far for Drenan. Though she said at least she knows where Ryan stands on the issue.

She can't say the same for Vance, who Drenan claims waffled about abortion in his final debate with Ryan.

"I felt like it was more whenever he decided it was politically convenient abortion could take place," she said.

With just days to go before voters cast their ballots, it sounds like if the old Ryan were in this race, he'd have a new ally in Drenan.

"He would have definitely had my vote if he was a pro-life Democrat," Drenan said. "That's how dissatisfied I am with Republicans right now."