Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said Wednesday that he's "concerned" about socialism among Democrats in response to a question about polling that shows it is growing more popular in his party.

Ryan, who announced this month he's running for president, said one reason he's concerned is that he doesn't think the answers to issues like climate change are going to come from a "centralized bureaucracy" in Washington.

“I’m concerned about it because if we are going to decarbonize the economy, it’s not going to be some centralized bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., that’s going to make it happen," Ryan said during an interview on CNN's "New Day."

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"It’s going to be part targeted government investments that do need to be robust," he continued. "But it’s going to be the free market that at the end of the day is going to make that happen. They have the magic of the free market. They have the innovation, the creativity, the profit motive.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersOutrage erupts over Breonna Taylor grand jury ruling Dimon: Wealth tax 'almost impossible to do' Grand jury charges no officers in Breonna Taylor death MORE (I-Vt.), who has led some polls in the Democratic presidential primary, is a democratic socialist who is pushing for "Medicare for All" as a single-payer health care plan and an aggressive climate change plan called the Green New Deal that would pump money into renewable energy.

Some Democrats are worried their party could be hurt in a general election against President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE if their candidate can be cast as too liberal or as a socialist.

Trump has repeatedly attacked socialism while linking it to the Democratic Party.

Ryan did say that he thinks it is acceptable to be "hostile" to the concentration of wealth, income inequality and greed.

"We can't be hostile to the free-enterprise system," he added. "That’s how we get past China.”