Congressman Tim Ryan, a relatively centrist white male from Ohio, is the latest Democrat to throw his hat into the ring for the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination. Ryan officially becomes the 17th Democrat officially seeking the presidency — and that list does not even include former vice president Joe Biden, who has not yet announced his bid but is poised to become one of the front-runners once he inevitably does announce.
CBS News reports:
Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a nine-term lawmaker known for his unsuccessful leadership challenge against Nancy Pelosi, launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, joining one of the largest primary fields in U.S. history.
On his campaign website, Ryan tied his presidential campaign to the recent closure of a Youngstown-area GM plant. “When our local GM factory was shutdown last Thanksgiving, I got a call from my daughter who was consoling her friend whose father was an auto worker and was just laid off,” the congressman says on the site.
“My daughter said to me, with tears in her voice, ‘You have to do something.’ That’s why I am running for president. It’s time to do something.”
Ryan enters a crowded race for president with more than a dozen candidates seeking to capture the Democratic nomination and thwart President Trump’s reelection bid in 2020. So far, 16 Democrats have declared their candidacy for president or launched presidential exploratory committees, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
As CBS News notes, Ryan is perhaps best known for his failed attempt to dethrone Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as the Democrats’ then-minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ryan, from the iconic Rust Belt state of Ohio, ran as a centrist who represented many workers forsaken by the bi-coastal ruling class of both parties who have forsaken heartland voters for the macroeconomic benefits of broader globalization.
The Washington Post reported on Ryan’s attempt in late 2016, providing a background on the veteran congressman. As it turns out, Ryan is apparently a big fan of meditation.
After the 2008 election, Ryan signed up for a mindfulness retreat, becoming such an obsessed devotee of meditation that he wrote a book about it. “I’m actually doing it a little more in the last week,” he said. “Over the last week, there’s been longer sessions. It keeps me sane. It keeps me grounded. It keeps me in the zone.” Ryan goes out of his way to eat healthy, even penning a 2014 book about green eating called “The Real Food Revolution.” …
When Ryan launched his quixotic bid, he did not even have phone numbers for many of his Democratic colleagues. He made the case over the Thanksgiving holiday. Because he never planned to run for leader, he never focused on cultivating the relationships that could come in handy right now. “Because it wasn’t my thing,” he explained.
But it isn’t just meditation — it’s also yoga. Chris Pandolfo of Conservative Review reported last year that Ryan is a big fan of the Eastern form of exercise that is nearest to the heart of Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh.
In any event, it is nearly impossible to see how the Midwestern sensibilities undergirding Ryan’s bid possibly stand any viable chance amid what is an increasingly radically leftist Democratic Party.