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Ryan and DePizzo square off in congressional debate
LaBrae High School hosts congressional debate
LEAVITTSBURG
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan says he’s delivered for the 13th Congressional District during his 16 years in the House, while his Republican challenger Chris DePizzo says the incumbent has failed the area.
The two squared off Thursday in a debate at LaBrae High School, sponsored by the Tribune Chronicle.
“The last 16 years I’ve had a plan for this community and every single year, every single appropriation cycle, I’ve been executing that plan,” said Ryan, 45, a Howland Democrat.
“It’s Camp Ravenna, where we got $20 million to build that out, that is now Camp Garfield, state-of-the-art training facility for the men and women of our National Guard right over in Portage County; $28 million for the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, and we’re going to continue to use my position on the Appropriations Committee to keep investing in that, especially YARS, which has a $100 million economic impact. I don’t have control over everything. I wish I did.” But “what I have control over, I’ve delivered on.”
DePizzo of Cuyahoga Falls, a Youngstown native, 31, said, “Sixteen years is a long time,” and Ryan “has control over his voting record.”
DePizzo said, “The guy from Niles who went to Washington 16 years ago isn’t the same guy standing in front of you. That guy understood our Second Amendment, stood up for it. That guy backed” the district “and not his party. That guy cared about our district, or at least I think so. But all I know is, that’s changed in the way he’s voted.”
Ryan, DePizzo said, has changed his views on not only the Second Amendment, but fracking, immigration and abortion.
“So what do I offer?” DePizzo said. “I offer a new way forward. I offer a different style. I came from the private sector.”
Ryan said he’s worked successfully in a bipartisan way to move the area forward.
“I have never been more optimistic about opportunities that young people will have in this community than I have right now,” he said.
He added: “When I’m in Washington, D.C., I’ve got your back every single day.”
DePizzo sees it differently.
“The plea I have is, we’ve done 16 years of it,” he said. “What’s the next 16 look like or what do you want it to look like? I think we deserve a congressman who cares more about us than his job.”
The five-county 13th District includes most of Mahoning and Trumbull.
Ryan said he’s worked to diversify the district’s economy while DePizzo said the area lags behind the rest of the state and the nation in job growth.
They also differ on the tax cuts, with Ryan saying it balloons the national deficit and 83 percent of the cuts went to the richest 1 percent.
“This was a scam,” he said.
DePizzo said of Ryan: “He thinks we need a new government. I think we need a new congressman.”
While he said he “didn’t love the tax cut,” DePizzo would have voted for it, as it benefited the country.