STEUBENVILLE — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan wants to remind area residents that he knows the Eastern and Southeastern parts of Ohio are worth standing up for.

“We want to fight for the Steubenvilles and Youngstowns of the state,” the Senate candidate said Tuesday morning while meeting with reporters after a campaign stop at IBEW Local 246 headquarters on Fourth Street. “I will take on Democrats, I will take on Republicans, I will take on anybody who is messing with the Steubenvilles of the world.”

Ryan is making his final push toward next Tuesday’s election, in which the Democrat is facing Republican J.D. Vance for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman. Polls generally show the race as a dead heat. The local stop was the only one scheduled as the campaign made its way toward Columbus, where Ryan and Vance participated in a forum on the Fox News Channel on Tuesday evening.

“I’m from Youngstown, and that means people understand who I am and who I fight for,” Ryan said. “I’ve been a strong proponent of the natural gas industry. I worked to get the natural gas provisions in the inflation reduction bill, and I want to streamline permitting so we can pump more natural gas — that means more jobs here over the long haul.”

Joining Ryan in Steubenville were Chelsea Clark, the Democrat candidate for Ohio secretary of state, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Clark, who is running against incumbent Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose and non-party candidate Terpeshore P. Maras, described her background to the gathering and said she plans to change the direction of the office if she is elected.

Brown told a gathering of Democrat supporters inside the hall — mine workers, steelworkers, electrical workers and numerous local and regional politicians — that Ryan’s supporters have a simple task to accomplish during the next seven days.

“Our job in the next week is to show Ohioans who have been preyed on by Wall Street, passed over by corporate America and forgotten by our government that we are on your side,” Brown said. “It’s not liberal, conservative or moderate — it’s who’s on your side. Look at Tim Ryan and compare him to his opponent — Tim stands up for workers, stands up for consumers. Tim stands up for civil rights. Tim stands up for women’s rights.

“There will never be a question about where Tim Ryan stands when we are voting in the Senate — you can count on that.”

Ryan said he is worried about growing extremism and the damage it is causing across the country.

“What we saw happen to the husband of the speaker of the house — it’s an absolute tragedy,” he said referring to the weekend break-in and attack that seriously injured Paul Pelosi — Nancy Pelosi’s husband. “I don’t care how you feel about Nancy Pelosi. I don’t care if you disagree with her politics. You cannot have a scenario where these extremists are saying that it’s OK to go into someone’s home and beat up an 82-year-old man with a hammer … No way. That’s not the kind of country we’re going to hand to our kids.”

The difference in the candidates, Ryan said, is that Vance’s campaign has raised $55 million from just a few sources — mainly a Silicon Valley billionaire and Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Ryan said his own campaign has seen donations from 415,000 people, with 95 percent of the contributions being less than $100.

Ryan pointed to the positive influence recent legislation will have on Ohio, saying the infrastructure bill will create 600,000 jobs and the CHIPS act will lead to 7,000 union construction jobs during the next decade as the new Intel facility is built near Columbus.

“They want to bring 40 suppliers to Ohio,” Ryan said. “How do we prepare the Steubenvilles, the Portsmouths, the Youngtowns to be ready to accept these jobs? You know, 200 or 300 good-paying jobs in a community like this go a long way. They make sure that the sheriff’s department has money, the police department has money, the fire department has money, the schools have money, because you’ve built a local economy. That’s what we’re trying to fight for.”

Good jobs are the backbone of every community, Ryan said, using his grandfather as an example. He worked, Ryan said, as a steelworker in Niles for 40 years and was treasurer in the union’s local.

“He worked five days a week, 40 hours a week — he had a good, solid middle-class job,” Ryan said. “What did he do with his free time? He was the lead usher at 10:45 a.m. Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. He ran the beer tent at the summer festival — because he had time. He had time to participate in the civic life of our community and to build that civic life. He chose to do that through his church, but he could do that because he had a very good job.

“That’s why it’s important to bring good jobs back to places like Steubenville, so we can help build the civic life of this town and start healing this country again.”

Supporting working-class people is a big part of what is driving his campaign, Ryan added.

“You aren’t on the agenda as working people in Steubenville,” he said. “You are the agenda.”