Tensions sparked on Monday night when Republican J.D. Vance attacked his opponent, Tim Ryan, over being bankrolled by big pharma. Initially, Ryan started the confrontation by saying that J.D. has done little to help the victims of the opioid crisis. J.D. Vance, whose mother was an opioid addict, fired back with ferocity. Vance pulled through the debate with his head held higher than Ryan, claiming a victory for Republican hopefuls in Ohio.
BREITBART: J.D. Vance: ‘Pharmaceutical Blood Money’ Funding Tim Ryan’s Senate Bid
John Binder; October 11, 2022
During a debate on Monday evening, Ryan attacked Vance for having opened a nonprofit to help the victims of the nation’s opioid crisis which he claims “didn’t spend one nickel on anybody.”
As Vance famously wrote in his best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, his mother struggled with opioid addiction for years before getting sober. Vance called Ryan’s attack “shameful” and “dishonest lies.”
“I put $80,000 of my own money into that nonprofit, Tim, and it absolutely did help people,” Vance said.
“Tim Ryan has done nothing to stop the flow of fentanyl. He talks about wanting to support a stronger border, he talks about wanting to be bipartisan and get things done,” Vance said. “Well, Tim, you’ve been in Congress for 20 years and the border problem has gotten worse and worse and worse.”
In addition, Vance accused Ryan’s campaign of being bankrolled by big pharmaceutical corporations that have been linked to the opioid crisis. Indeed, as Breitbart News reported, Ryan has raked in tens of thousands of contributions from the likes of AmerisourceBergen, McKesson Corporation, and Cardinal Health — the three largest drug corporations in the United States.
The pharmaceutical corporations have been partially blamed for the opioid crisis.
“If you’re in Ohio and you’ve seen these ridiculous commercials that Tim Ryan runs telling dishonest lies about my nonprofit organization, it’s paid by pharmaceutical blood money because the very same corporations that caused this poison to come into our country have funded your campaign to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars,” Vance said.
“Why are the people who have gotten rich off the opioid epidemic funding Tim Ryan and attacking me?” Vance continued. “The answer is obvious — this guy is the biggest fan of pharma and the biggest fan of illegal pharma, which is the Mexican drug cartels that are bringing this poison into our country.”
Since 2007, Ryan has taken about $27,000 from AmerisourceBergen, McKesson Corporation, and Cardinal Health. Vance has not accepted any campaign contributions from pharmaceutical corporations.
Photo: Joshua A. Bickel/The Columbus Dispatch/AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File