Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance takes the stage to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

FILE – Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, running for an open U.S. Senate seat in Ohio, speaks to supporters after the polls closed on primary election day Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio. When Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan spoke out against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan this week, it marked a departure from some past statements and votes. The decision to oppose a same-party president comes as Ryan is running a U.S. Senate campaign with a pro-working class message against Republican JD Vance. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

COLUMBUS — The first debate between Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance devolved quickly into attacks Monday, with the candidates for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat accusing each other of being responsible for job losses and putting party loyalty ahead of voters’ needs.

Vance said Ryan had supported policies as a congressman that led to a 10-year-old girl in Ohio being raped. Ryan said Vance had started a “fake nonprofit” to help people overcome addiction issues. The two accused each other of being beholden to their party, with Ryan calling Vance an “a– kisser” to former President Donald Trump at a recent rally and Vance saying Ryan’s 100 percent voting record with President Joe Biden means he’s not the reasonable moderate he says he is.

The face-off between Ryan, a 10-term congressman from Trumbull County, and Vance, a venture capitalist from the Cincinnati area and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” for the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman became one of the most contentious debates of the general election season so far. The race is one of the most expensive and closely watched of the midterms, with Democrats viewing it as a possible pickup opportunity in November.

Both candidates sought to tailor their messages to the working-class voters who could determine the election.

During one exchange, Ryan said when Trump was in Youngstown stumping for Vance, Trump said to Vance: “All you are doing here is kissing my a– to get my support. He said that. That says J.D. Vance will do whatever he wants.

“What is most troubling about this is after Trump took J.D. Vance’s dignity from him on the stage in Youngstown, J.D. Vance got back up on stage, started shaking Trump’s hand and taking pictures with him, I don’t know anyone who would allow them to take their dignity like that and then get back up on stage. We need leaders who have courage to take on their own party and I have proven that …,” Ryan said.

Vance said he is not going to take lectures on dignity and self respect from Ryan, who was caught on video “kissing up to (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer and begging him for a promotion to his next job. That is the kind of guy Tim Ryan is. We are close to Halloween, and Tim Ryan has put on a costume where he pretends to be a reasonable moderate but, in fact, he says he stands up to his own party. The last two congresses, you voted for Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden 100 percent. You consistently toe the party line on every single issue,” Vance said. 

During questioning about China, Ryan said Vance invested in China as a venture capitalist, the type of business move that exacerbated job losses in Ohio’s manufacturing base. “Here’s the problem: J.D. Vance is invested into companies in China,” Ryan said. “The problem we’re having now with inflation is our supply chains all went to China, and guys like him made a whole lot of money off that.”

Vance said it is Democratic economic policies that have harmed manufacturing, saying, “They have completely gone to war against America’s energy sector.”

“I wish you were the reasonable moderate you said you were, because then Youngstown may not have lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs during your 20 years,” Vance told Ryan.

On abortion, Vance did not answer whether he would support Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Vance said he thinks different states would likely want different laws but “some minimum national standard is totally fine with me.”

He called himself “pro-life” but said he has “always believed in reasonable exceptions.”

Ryan said he supports codifying the abortion rights established in Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. He said he opposes Ohio’s law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity has been detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy, which was blocked Friday.

“This is the largest government overreach in the history of our lifetime, a complete violation of personal freedom and liberty of women in this state,” he said. Ryan said Vance sides with extremists who would allow politicians into people’s personal lives.

Meanwhile, Vance said a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim should not have had to leave the state for an abortion, but he said the fact her attacker was in the country illegally was a failure of weak border policies.

“You voted so many times against the border wall funding, so many times for amnesty, Tim,” Vance said. “If you had done your job, she would have never been raped in the first place.”

On foreign policy, the pair parted ways on what the U.S. response should be if Russia were to launch nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Ryan said the U.S. should be prepared with a “swift and significant response,” while Vance countered that the United States needs a “foreign policy establishment that puts the interests of our citizens first.”

Ryan responded: “If J.D. had his way, Putin would be through Ukraine at this point. He’d be going into Poland.”

“If I had my way,” Vance retorted, “you’d put money at the southern border, Tim, instead of launching tons of money into Ukraine.”

Vance said, however, that Taiwan was a “much different situation” than Ukraine because of its importance to U.S. national security. “The reason why Taiwan is different is because they make so many of our semiconductors, our computer chips. The entire modern economy would collapse without it,” Vance said.

In the contest so far, Ryan has significantly outraised Vance in an increasingly Republican-leaning state that twice voted for Trump for president.

Ryan ended the last fundraising period that ended June 30 with $3.6 million in the bank, compared with Vance’s $630,000. Last week, the Ryan campaign reported raising $17.2 million between July 1 and the end of September. Vance, who received help in the primary from billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, has not reported his latest totals.

At the end of Monday’s debate, Vance and Ryan shook hands.

The next televised debate between the two candidates is scheduled for Oct. 17 on 21-WFMJ TV in Youngstown.