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Tim Ryan makes Steubenville campaign stop

MAKING A STOP — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, left, and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, made a campaign stop Friday on North Street in Steubenville. Ryan is vying for the Ohio Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman. -- Linda Harris

STEUBENVILLE — Two days after picking up U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s endorsement in Ohio’s Senate race, Rep. Tim Ryan told the party faithful in Steubenville Friday the two of them working together in Congress could “move the needle” for the working class.

Ryan, D-Niles, said Steubenville looks “very similar” to a lot of rust belt communities he’s lived and worked in.

“I’m running for Senate for Steubenville, for Jefferson County, for all of the communities that in many ways have been forgotten,” he said. “We’ve seen globalization, we’ve seen automization, we’ve seen outsourcing. China, Mexico … the factories closed. For decades these (steel) communities have been left behind. I’m running for Senate to make sure I fight like hell for these communities — that I fight like hell for Steubenville, for Jefferson County, for the communities along the Ohio River. I know what you’ve been through, we’ve been through it in the Mahoning Valley. If we get enough senators in place, we can start making a difference in communities like this.”

Ryan and Columbus attorney Morgan Harper, a progressive, are jockeying for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Senator Rob Portman, who announced in January he would not seek re-election.

He pointed out CEO salaries have increased 1,300 percent since the 1970s, while worker pay has increased only 18 percent.

“What we’re fighting for is to make sure we cut workers in on the deal,” he said.

Brown told the partisan crowd they’d be the most “pro-worker team in the U.S. Senate, bar none.”

“I’ve watched what he’s accomplished in the House,” Brown added. “He’s always put workers at the center of his agenda; he’s always opposed job-killing trade agreements and he knows what they’ve done to your cities — moved jobs overseas.”

Brown said during the last 25 years American workers have been more productive — productivity has gone up, profits have gone up, executive compensation has gone through the roof, yet pay for most workers has been flat.

“That’s the reason Tim is running for the Senate, he wants to put workers in the middle of economic policy,” Brown said. “If you love this country, you’ve got to fight for the people that make it work.”

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