OHIO DEMOCRATIC REP. Tim Ryan has been telling political consultants and operatives that he intends to run for president of the United States in 2020, and is beginning to put together a team, according to multiple sources whove spoken to Ryan.
Ryan, who has served in Congress since 2002 as a representative from the 13th District in Ohio, which covers Youngstown and the surrounding area, has cast himself as an opportunity for the party to try and win back the Midwestern votes it has gradually shed over the last decade. A spokesperson for Ryan declined to comment.
The 13th Congressional District is emblematic of the challenges that Democrats face in the Rust Belt. As a profile in the New Republic noted, between 2001 and 2013, two of the largest counties in Ryans district, Trumbull and Mahoning, shed nearly 19,000 manufacturing jobs. Perhaps relatedly, the district gradually shifted from strongly Democratic to one where Republicans have gained ground. In 2016, Trumbull went to Donald Trump the first time the county went Republican since before 1972.
Ryans district is one of the few poor, majority-white districts that is represented by a Democrat. But he wont be running on a stereotypical working-class persona; instead, he believes his path to the White House runs through the yoga vote.
Ryan has long been a champion of mindfulness, meditation, and similar pursuits, and has even created a Quiet Time Caucus in the House of Representatives. James Gimian, the publisher of Mindful magazine who knows Ryan, said he isnt sure whether Ryan will run for president, but that the yoga vote has gone mainstream in recent years. The so-called yoga voters are the kind of folks who realize that while they grew up with their mom saying, Pay attention, nobody trained them in how to pay attention and use their mind to focus on whats important, he said. Thats a growing population its no longer just Lululemon yoga women. He said that anybody who is negotiating the emotional land mine of modern day living could be someone Ryans message would resonate with.
Ryan, who was elected to Congress at age 29, is the author of the 2012 book A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit.
It gets marginalized by calling it the yoga vote. I think its much bigger than that, Gimian said. His aspiration is to bring this kind of conversation to a wider office.
The group Yoga Votes (One body united for change) puts the total number of people who do yoga in the U.S. at 20 million, and Ryan has done work with the group.
Operatives who have spoken to Ryan about his run say that he genuinely believes he has a chance to win. Im gonna win, he told one flatly.
Ryan challenged Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for her Democratic leadership position in 2016 after the November election, losing by a 2-1 margin. There has been speculation that he may make another bid after the 2018 elections, but his eyes appear set on the higher prize. He also took a pass on a 2018 run for Ohio governor, people whove spoken to him say, so that he could concentrate on running for president. Quixotic bids for president arent always as futile as they may seem, as they can sometimes lead to a place on the ticket as running mate or a spot in a future cabinet.