Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) is running as far away from Joe Biden as quickly as he can. He doesn’t want Biden to come to Ohio and campaign with him, though normally, candidates vie for campaign appearances with presidents. Joe Biden governs as a progress Democrat and Tim Ryan wants Ohio voters to look at him as a moderate, even conservative Democrat.

Ryan is trying to flip the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Senator Rob Portman, who is retiring. Republican candidate J.D. Vance is challenging Ryan for the seat. Ryan is a longtime member of the House. When asked if he was inviting Biden out on the campaign trail with him, Ryan couches his negative answer by saying he isn’t inviting anyone to campaign with him. “No, I’m not, and I’m really not inviting anybody.”

He is putting on a lot of bravado by saying he’s campaigning on his own, as he dings Vance for bringing in some big guns. He said that Trump, whose endorsement of Vance helped him win the GOP primary, appeared at a rally for Vance and “took his manhood.”

Trump, whose rally with Vance just ahead of the primary helped put the first-time candidate over the top, returned to Ohio last month to headline another rally for Vance. Trump also made headlines as he refuted a New York Times story that suggested that some GOP nominees endorsed by Trump – including Vance – were not inviting the former president back to campaign during the general election campaign.

“J.D. is kissing my a–, he wants my support,” Trump said as he took aim at what he called a “fake” news story. “The entire MAGA movement is for J.D. Vance,” the former president stressed.

Pointing to the rally, Ryan claimed that “Trump, even from the stage in Youngstown, Ohio, called JD Vance, an a–kisser, you know, and completely took his manhood from him right there on the stage in Youngstown, Ohio. And then JD got back up on the stage and shook his hand. Smiled and took pictures.”

Ryan also argued that Vance “has to invite Trump. He’s got to invite Don Jr. He’s got to invite Lindsey Graham. He’s got to invite Ron DeSantis. Like he’s got to invite everybody to prop him up. It’s like, Look, brother, you’re in a competition. You’re in a race, stand on your own two feet. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m standing on my own two feet.”

In August, DeSantis did a campaign rally with Vance. The Florida governor explained to the standing room only crowd that his mother is from Youngstown and was present at the rally. He said his father is from Aliquippa. Don’t you imagine that Tim Ryan wished Biden could bring out a standing room only crowd for one of his rallies? Biden doesn’t draw crowds, though, and usually says stupid things when he speaks so Democrats in tight races don’t want anything to do with him.

Real Clear Politics aggregate averaging shows Vance up by 1.2 points. This race is likely to be a squeaker but it sure looks like J.D. Vance is gaining momentum and moving ahead. This will make Ryan even more strident on how much of a populist he really is, or at least that is what he wants the voters in Ohio to believe. Trump won Ohio by eight points in both the 2016 and 2020 elections. Ohio is very red, with only Senator Sherrod Brown winning a statewide election in his 2018 re-election.

Ryan is trying to out-populist Republicans and slams Biden on just about every issue. He refuses to endorse Biden for re-election in 2024 and said he doesn’t think Biden should run again. Two big issues that voters are concerned about have Ryan and Biden on opposite sides – border security and student debt relief.

“I’ve disagreed with Biden on the student loan. I’ve disagreed with Biden on a lot of other issues, Title 42 and these other issues, been very clear,” Ryan emphasized during a national exclusive interview Monday at Giuseppe’s Italian Market in Niles, the small northeastern Ohio city just outside of Youngstown where he was born and raised.

In a state hard hit by the opioid crisis, and with the extremely powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl illegally transported across the U.S.-Mexico border reaching Ohio, Ryan was asked if he was disappointed that the president had yet to visit the southern border.

“I mean, yeah. I’d like to see him go down there. I think it is a huge issue,” Ryan answered. “You know, we are recovering lots of drugs coming into the country, but not nearly enough. I have a resolution to label fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. And we need more Border Patrol. You know, we need more technology. I started the border technology caucus.”

And he touted “I’ve brought back $500 million for law enforcement, so local communities can have the resources they need to be able to combat this at the local level.”

Ryan is concentrating on bread and butter issues, which favor Republicans in Biden’s America. All the Democrats are running on this cycle are abortion and the bribe of student loan forgiveness. Biden even botched the student loan forgiveness bribe when he had to scale the program back due to legal issues.

The NRSC points out that Ryan talks a big game of going his own way but his voting record tells a different tale. The NRSC claims Ryan votes with Pelosi 100% of the time, with AOC 96% of the time. That’s not populism.

I think this race will be a squeaker but at this point, I think Vance has a greater chance of victory in November. As of this morning, FiveThirtyEight has Ryan with a lead of 0.6 percentage points. Today Vance has three campaign events with Donald Trump, Jr. on his schedule in Ohio.