Tim Ryan (politician)

For other people named Tim Ryan, see Tim Ryan (disambiguation).
Tim Ryan
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 13th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2013
Preceded by Betty Sutton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 17th district
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by James Traficant
Succeeded by District eliminated
Member of the Ohio Senate
from the 32nd district
In office
January 3, 2001 – December 19, 2002
Preceded by Anthony Latell Jr.
Succeeded by Marc Dann
Personal details
Born (1973-07-16) July 16, 1973
Niles, Ohio
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Andrea Zetts (m. April 2013)
Children 1
Residence Niles, Ohio
Alma mater Bowling Green State University (B.A.), University of New Hampshire (J.D.)
Religion Roman Catholicism[1]

Timothy John "Tim" Ryan (born July 16, 1973) is the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 13th congressional district, serving since 2003. The district, numbered as the 17th district from 2003 to 2013, takes in a large swath of northeast Ohio, from Youngstown to Akron. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the Ohio Senate.

Early life and career

Tim Ryan was born in Niles, Ohio and graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, where he played football as a quarterback and coached junior high basketball. Ryan is of Irish and Italian ancestry. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Bowling Green State University in 1995 and was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. In 2000, he earned a Juris Doctor degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire.[2] Ryan served on the staff of controversial U.S. Representative Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) in the mid-1990s. From 2000 to 2002 he served half a term in the Ohio State Senate.

United States Representative

Elections

After Jim Traficant was convicted on criminal charges in 2002, Ryan declared his candidacy for the 17th District. As the result of redistricting following the 2000 census, the 17th, which had long been based in Youngstown, had been pushed to the west and now included much of Portage County and part of Akron. Before the redistricting, all of Akron had been part of the 14th District, represented by eight-term Democrat Tom Sawyer. The 14th had been eliminated in the year 2000 redistricting; most of it was drawn into the 13th District of fellow Democrat Sherrod Brown, but Sawyer's home was drawn into the 17th.

In the 2002 Democratic primary, Ryan defeated Sawyer, who was seen as insufficiently labor-friendly in the newly-drawn district. In the November 2002 general election, he faced Republican Insurance Commissioner Ann Womer Benjamin as well as Traficant, who ran as an independent from his prison cell. He won with 51 percent of the vote, besting Benjamin by a solid 14-point margin. When he took office in January 2003, he was the youngest Democrat in the House, at 29 years of age. He has been reelected five times,[3][4] only once facing another contest nearly as close as his first one. In 2010, he was held to 53 percent of the vote; Traficant, running as an independent, took 16 percent of the vote. It is the only time since Ryan's first run for the seat that he has not tallied at least 70 percent of the vote.

Tenure

In his first year in office, Ryan was one of seven members of Congress who voted against the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act, and one of 8 Congressmen who opposed ratification of FTC's establishment of a National Do Not Call Registry.[5]

Ryan is a member of the "30 Something" Working Group,[6] which is a Congressional caucus that includes those members of the United States House of Representatives who are Democrats and have not yet reached the age of 40. It was organized by the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to energize and engage younger people in politics by focusing on issues that are important to them.[7]

Ryan voted for the Stupak Amendment restricting federal funding for abortions, but in January 2015, he announced that having "gained a deeper understanding of the complexities and emotions that accompany the difficult decisions [about whether to end a pregnancy]" over his time in public office, he had reversed his position on abortion and now identified as pro-choice.[8]

Before the 2004 presidential election, Ryan spoke on the House floor in an impassioned speech denouncing the Bush administration's denial of a draft reinstatement, comparing this to the administration's previous claims that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, the Bush tax cuts would create jobs, and other such claims.[9] He repeated in September 2006 with an equally-heated speech criticizing what he felt to be the Bush administration's tendency to distract the public from key issues like the war in Iraq and the economy.[10]

In 2010, Ryan introduced the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which sought punitive trade tariffs on countries, notably China, that were engaging in currency manipulation. It passed the House overwhelmingly but never made it to the floor in the Senate. In an October 2010 interview with conservative magazine Human Events, Ryan said tax increases on small businesses were necessary "because we have huge deficits. We gotta shore up Social Security. We gotta shrink our deficits".[11][12]

Committees and caucuses

Ryan is a member of the following committees:

Ryan is a member of the following caucuses:

Publications

In March, 2012, Hay House published Ryan's A Mindful Nation,[13] a book about the practice of mindfulness in both private and public life. He writes in his introduction:

If more citizens can reduce stress and increase performance—even if only by a little—they will be healthier and more resilient. They will be better equipped to face the challenges of daily life, and to arrive at creative solutions to the challenges facing our nation.

In October 2014, the same publisher published Ryan's The Real Food Revolution.

Electoral history

Ohio's 17th congressional district: Results 2002 - 2010[14]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct Other Party Votes Pct
2002 Timothy J. Ryan 94,441 51% Ann Womer Benjamin 62,188 34% James A. Traficant, Jr. Independent 28,045 15%
2004 Timothy J. Ryan 212,800 77% Frank V. Cusimano 62,871 23%
2006 Timothy J. Ryan 170,369 80% Don Manning II 41,925 20%
2008 Timothy J. Ryan 204,028 78% Duane Grassell[15] 56,003 22%[16]
2010 Timothy J. Ryan 102,758 53.89% Jim Graham 57,352 30.08% James A. Traficant, Jr. Independent 30,556 16.03%
Ohio's 13th congressional district: Results 2012 - 2014[14]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct
2012 Timothy J. Ryan 227,076 72.47% Marisha Agana 86,269 27.53%
2014 Timothy J. Ryan 120,230 68.49% Thomas Pekarek 55,233 31.46%

See also

References

  1. ↑ "'Pro-life Democrat' Catholic Congressman Tim Ryan embraces abortion". Lifesitenews.com. 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  2. ↑ "Biography of Tim Ryan". Timryan.house.gov. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  3. ↑ Archived July 1, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Jean Dubail (2008-04-19). "Congressman Tim Ryan endorses Clinton | cleveland.com". Blog.cleveland.com. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  5. ↑ "Congressional Votes on (US) Telemarketing Rule - Telemarketing Scum Page". Scn.org. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  6. ↑ Archived June 10, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "30 Something Working Group". Nancy Pelosi Page. Congress. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Tim Ryan: Why I changed my thinking on abortion". Ohio.com. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  9. ↑ "Democrat Tim Ryan kicks Bush's ass". YouTube. 2006-08-25. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  10. ↑ "Tim Ryan Blasts the Bush Admin on Iraq war". YouTube. 2007-02-04. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  11. ↑ Miller, Emily (2010-10-01). "Democrat Tim Ryan: Raise Taxes on Small Businesses". Human Events. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
  12. ↑ Hagen, Lisa; Railey, Kimberly (January 18, 2015). "The Congressional Tease Caucus: 9 Members Who Think (but Never Act) on Running for Higher Office". National Journal. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  13. ↑ "A Mindful Nation by Tim Ryan". HayHouse.com. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  14. 1 2 "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
  15. ↑ "Duane Grassell's Biography - The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  16. ↑

External links

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