- Democratic Senate hopeful Tim Ryan is facing off against Trump-backed challenger JD Vance in Ohio.
- Ryan is committed to campaigning on his own even as party leaders on both sides blanket the country.
CINCINNATI, Ohio — Democratic Senate hopeful Rep. Tim Ryan has been circling the state in an attempt to defeat the Trump-backed GOP opponent JD Vance ahead of Tuesday's midterms, and on Friday he let rally-goers know that he's counting on them — not prominent political figures — to help sweep him into office.
"We don't have the national Democrats coming in here trying to rescue me," Ryan, who is in a high-profile race with Trump-backed Vance, told supporters during a midday stop in Xenia, Ohio.
He added, somewhat defiantly, "They don't need to rescue me. I need to rescue them."
His "I've got this" attitude is striking given that party leaders on both sides of the aisle are parachuting into contests all over the country over the next three days to haul their chosen candidates across the finish line.
The mad dash includes Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg crisscrossing Michigan and New Hampshire, President Joe Biden, and former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump pleading their cases in Pennsylvania, First Lady Jill Biden revving up Arizonans, and likely 2024 GOP presidential contender Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri collecting chits in Ohio.
Ryan, who is keeping things interesting in a state Trump carried by 8 points in 2016 and 2020, tends to huddle with local mayors and the respective down-ballot candidates at the back-to-back-to-back campaign rallies he's dashing to before Election Day.
Ryan welcomed Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to the area in late October for a project-related check-in in Piketon, Ohio; and later made the rounds with Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Steubenville, Ohio on November 1.
But Ryan told Insider "we don't really want anybody" from the administration swooping in at the last moment.
"I got Andrea and Brady. We're good," he said on Friday, citing his wife and young son, both of whom have been big applause-getters at rallies these past few days.
'He can stand on his own'
Hamilton County resident Erin Saul, who saw Ryan speak Friday night at an industrial park in Cincinnati, left that rally thoroughly impressed.
"After what I saw tonight, I see why he can stand on his own," Saul, a Cincinnati native, told Insider.
Saul said she expected that his focus on union labor, affordable healthcare, and retirement security would strike a chord with working-class Ohioans regardless of their political affiliation.
"His message resonates with me as somebody born and raised in Ohio who has seen the impact of really piss-poor politics in Washington, and the impact that it has on jobs here," she said.
"We don't need people from the outside coming in to sell us something, because his message is so strong," Saul added.
Clermont County resident Melanie Matheny concurred.
"I like that he does it alone," Matheny told Insider at the Cincinnati rally.
Matheny said she admired Ryan's reliance on grassroots support. (Ryan tells every crowd his campaign is predominantly funded by roughly 420,000 contributors, most of whom chipped in less than $100 — contrasting himself with Vance's super PAC-fueled run.)
"I think it's really important that he does this on his own." Matheny said, adding that it "shows working-class people that you don't need all that extra money in your pocket."