Democratic Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan cut a cringeworthy ad Friday in a seeming attempt to mask his liberal voting record.
Ryan posted the ad to his Twitter account Friday. In the ad, he attempts to downplay his record of voting in line with President Joe Biden using the fact that he does not always agree with his wife, Andrea. But Ryan has voted 100% of the time with Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on every major policy item.
“Some people think that they have to agree with their politicians 100% of the time,” Ryan captioned the ad on Twitter. “And I ask these people, ‘Are any of you married?’”
In the ad, Ryan is sitting on the couch with his wife. He then professes his love for his wife, while his stepdaughter looks at them and his stepson stares at his phone. “Gross,” the daughter says. “Yeah, it’s disgusting,” the son adds.
The ad then cuts back to Ryan and his wife on the couch. “If we have 10 conversations in one day, and agree on seven, we crack a bottle of wine,” the couple says before the ad cuts to a shot of them opening a bottle and toasting. “The same goes for the country,” Ryan continues. “We have to stop the stupid fights, find some common ground, and be Americans first.”
Some people think that they have to agree with their politicians 100% of the time. And I ask these people, “Are any of you married?” pic.twitter.com/HApO97dpkx
— Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) October 7, 2022
According to an analysis from FiveThirtyEight, Ryan has voted with Biden’s agenda 100% of the time. He also scored a plus-minus rating of +30.4%, meaning he far and away outperformed how much experts predicted he would agree with Biden. According to ProPublica, Ryan also agreed with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time in the 116th Congress, from 2019-2020.
Conservatives on Twitter mocked the ad, pointing out that despite Ryan’s appeal to bipartisanship, as a congressman, Ryan has agreed more with Biden and Pelosi than his own wife.
“Tim Ryan has a 100% voting record with the Democrat Party which means he just ran an ad where he admits that he agrees with Nancy Pelosi more than his own wife,” conservative digital strategist Greg Price tweeted.
“Tim Ryan loves Joe Biden more than he loves his wife,” activist and former Republican Congressional candidate Matthew Foldi wrote. “That is a super weird #OHSEN ad imo.”
“[I]f you value peace and prosperity, agree with your wife 100% of the time,” Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi mocked.
“I keep hearing how great a candidate/campaigner Tim Ryan is but this ad is such a massive unforced error,” Republican communications strategist Matt Whitlock replied. “Does his team actually not know that he actually has a 100% votes with Biden and Pelosi record?”
Users from across the political spectrum also made fun of the ad for how corny it is.
“I also live in Ohio and have a wife who disagrees with me on plenty of political and ideological issues, and I too enjoy throwing things at the tv while talking about trade deficits, maybe I should be senator instead,” Rolling Stone senior politics reporter Asawin Suebsaeng wrote.
“Is my politician gonna stay up with me four hours past our usual bedtime until we hash out a hard fought compromise built from mutual understanding too?” Ars Technica senior gaming editor Kyle Orland replied.
“I really wonder how effective this is,” journalist Noah Berlatsky wrote. “Like, yeah, I want my politicians to do the right thing all the time? And the relationship between people and their spouses is not the same as between voters and elected officials at all?”
Aside from his own voting record, Ryan is also trying to hide his progressive views from Ohio voters. Video obtained by The Daily Wire from a meeting with the Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus showed Ryan promising to keep voting for progressive priorities like abortion, LGBTQ, and transgender issues.