Encouraging people to “kill and confront” the MAGA movement may not have been a “great choice of words,” Ohio Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan told audience members and viewers at a town hall in Columbus on Nov. 1.
The event, which was hosted by Fox News, took place one week before the Nov. 8 midterm election day.
Ryan and Republican nominee J.D. Vance are vying to replace retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman in a race that will help determine which party has control of the chamber in January 2023.
Unlike the two previous debates, Ryan and Vance did not appear on stage together. They separately fielded questions from moderators and audience members. Ryan was the first candidate to take the stage.
During the event, an audience member asked Ryan about his comments that stemmed from Biden’s combative speech in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in early September when he condemned former President Donald Trump and his supporters.
“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy,” Biden said on Sept. 1. “It’s not just Trump. It’s the entire philosophy that undermines the—I’m going to say something—it’s like semi-fascism.”
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election,” Biden continued.
“And they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state, to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards—backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love,” Biden continued.
“They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence.”
On Sept. 13, around two weeks after Biden’s fiery speech, Ryan reiterated the president’s stance about MAGA supporters.
“How do we fix all of these broken systems? Some of those answers will come from Republicans, not the extremists that we are dealing with every single day.
“We’ve got to kill and confront that movement, but working with normal mainstream Republicans, that’s going to be really, really important,” Ryan said on MSNBC.
“I’m saying [the] exhausted majority—Democrats, Republicans, Independents—against the extremists, leading an era of reform around reconciliation so we can heal this country and move into the future,” Ryan added.
At the Nov. 1 town hall event, Ryan said that “this extremist movement absolutely needs to be confronted” but that saying to kill the movement maybe “wasn’t a great choice of words.”
Ryan then turned his attention to the recent attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, at their San Francisco home. MAGA-type rhetoric encouraged that crime, Ryan alleged.
“We absolutely [need to] confront and absolutely stop the extremist movement happening.
“We just saw what happened to Paul Pelosi. I don’t care what your politics are. I really don’t.
“I don’t care how you feel about Nancy Pelosi and her politics or anything. She is the third-ranking constitutional officer in the United States of America. President, Vice President, Speaker of the House.
“Her husband is 82 years old and got beat over the head with a hammer. And that is wrong across the board,” Ryan said.
He criticized Vance, claiming his opponent did not condemn the Pelosi attack while Portman and Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine did.
During Vance’s time on the town hall stage, he rejected Ryan’s allegation and pointed out that the accused is a Canadian national who had overstayed his visa.
“I’ve condemned the violence against Paul Pelosi from the very beginning. I think it’s preposterous. I think it’s disgusting. And I think it’s all something that all of us should condemn,” Vance said.
“What I’ve also said is that I think the effort to turn this into a political issue actually is a real problem here because Paul Pelosi was attacked by a person who is an illegal alien in our country and should have never been here in the first place.
“My view very simply, is that we need to deport violent illegal aliens.”
“When an illegal alien attacks Paul Pelosi, it’s tragic, and it’s terrible, but it’s not reflective of Republicans,” Vance added. “It’s reflective of the fact that we let way too many violent people live freely in our country.”
As of Oct. 30, the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Vance with a 2-point lead over Ryan.
On Nov. 1, The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated the race as “Lean Republican.”
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