CLEVELAND - WTAM morning host Bill Wills will interview both J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan back to back on Wednesday morning starting at 8:31 a.m. Vance and Ryan are in heated battle for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Rob Portman.
JD was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio. Turbulence was common at home and at school. JD’s father left home when he was a young boy. His mother struggled with drug addiction his entire life. His grandmother, called Mamaw, was his saving grace. Her tough love and discipline kept him on the straight and narrow.
JD served in the military and was deployed in the Iraq War. He graduated from The Ohio State University, received his law degree from Yale Law School, and became a successful investor in Silicon Valley. He wrote a bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was turned into a movie on Netflix. After the success of his book, JD became a well-known network commentator.
JD moved back to Ohio in 2017 to start a Cincinnati-based business that focused on growing companies that create well-paying jobs. Vance claims his business experience taught him firsthand that so many American companies struggle with unfair competition from China and from their own government, which often rewards multinational technology firms over Ohio small businesses.
He won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on May 3.
Tim Ryan is a lifelong Ohioan who lives just a few miles from the house where he grew up in Niles. In Congress, according to his campaign web site, Tim has fought for working families in his district and across the country — opposing unfair trade deals that would ship jobs overseas, pushing to raise wages, and working to protect the promise of a secure retirement by strengthening Medicare and Social Security.
In the Senate, Ryan vows to fight to raise wages, make healthcare more affordable, invest in education, rebuild our public infrastructure, and revitalize manufacturing so we can make things in Ohio again — and he’ll make sure we’re cutting workers in on the deal every step of the way.
Tim currently lives in Howland with his wife Andrea, their three children, and two dogs.