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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan hosted his first presidential rally in Youngstown on Saturday.

Ryan announced Thursday on his website that he is running for president.

In a statement he said:

As a congressman from Youngstown, Ohio for almost 20 years, I’ve watched the American Dream slip through the fingers of many Americans. Like so many in America’s heartland, I come from a long line of factory workers who helped build our nation into a powerhouse of innovation. But over the last 20 years, failed leadership and broken promises have destroyed the middle-class, forcing our economy into crisis and pushing the American Dream out of reach. When our local GM factory was shutdown last Thanksgiving, I got a call from my daughter who was consoling her friend whose father was an auto worker and was just laid off. My daughter said to me, with tears in her voice, “You have to do something.” That’s why I am running for President. It’s time to do something.

Ryan is positioning himself as a uniter, saying politicians today are offering voters false choices.

Ryan enters an already-crowded democratic field as more of a moderate.

He is probably best known up to this point as the congressman who challenged Nancy Pelosi in 2016 for leadership of Democrats in the House.

Though Ryan lost, he received about a third of the votes from his fellow democrats.

Ryan has been in Congress since 2003 and has considered running for higher office previously. He grew up in Niles and graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in nearby Warren.

More on Rep. Tim Ryan, here.

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