How The Race For Ohio's Open Senate Seat Looks From The Campaign Trail

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Republicans are the slight favorites to win an open Senate seat in Ohio, but first their candidate will need to prevail in a crowded primary fight. Democratic front-runner Tim Ryan is already keeping a packed campaign schedule — but he could have trouble persuading the independent voters he needs in an increasingly Republican state.

This episode: White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell, and national political correspondent Don Gonyea.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Angelina and Brooklyn, New York, and I just received my second fully funded
0:04.6	acceptance into a political science PhD program. Hey! I've worked incredibly hard towards
0:09.7	this goal for the last four years as a first-generation college student, and I'm currently over the
0:14.8	moon. This podcast was recorded at it is 135 pm on Wednesday, February 2, 2022. Things may have
0:24.3	changed by the time you hear it, and hopefully I'm closer to making a decision to where I'm going
0:28.6	to study for the next five years researching American politics, voting, representation, and political
0:35.3	identities. Okay, here's the show. That is awesome! Wow! Congratulations, and we need more of that!
0:47.6	Yes, and five years of fully funded education. That's amazing. Congratulations!
0:51.9	Yes! Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Aisha Roscoe. I cover the White House.
0:58.0	I'm Kelsey Snell, I cover Congress. And I'm Don Gagne National Political Correspondent.
1:03.2	Don, you are just back from reporting in Ohio, and you were there because there is a key open
1:10.8	Senate race this year after Republican Senator Rob Portman announced his retirement. The other seat
1:19.2	in this state is held by Democrat Sherrod Brown, so in the past it has seemed like Ohio was a
1:27.0	swing state, and this could go either way, right? That's right. I mean, first, can I just say how good
1:33.6	it felt to be running around a battleground state for a day, chasing candidates around? It's something
1:40.1	that I used to do all the time, and that we just have not had much of a chance to do lately. So I was
1:48.9	following Democrat, the Congressman Tim Ryan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for that open
1:55.2	U.S. Senate seat. He's hoping to flip the seat. But man, in one day, we started out in Columbus at
2:01.3	a union hall, then went to a business where they make Spanish clay tiles for rooftops and new
2:09.2	Lexington, then to McConnell'sville, a place called the Chatterbox Tavern for God's sakes, then to
2:15.5	Marietta. Oh, something like jealous. Yeah, you sound so excited. And Tim Ryan, people may
2:22.0	remember that name. He was one of maybe like 50, 60 people that were running for president back in
	...

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