Rep. Tim Ryan said Friday that Democrats should have been talking more about Obamacare during the election if they wanted to save the legislation.
“We were talking a lot about Donald Trump, we had a lot of commercials about Donald Trump, and we didn’t have enough commercials about working-class people and how we were going to help them,” Mr. Ryan, Ohio Democrat, said on MSNBC.
He also said it’s a lesson he wants the party to learn going forward.
“We need an affirmative agenda. Obviously, there’s going to be a lot to criticize here. But our brand is terrible, we’ve got to be a positive brand,” Mr. Ryan explained.
But he did say that Republicans’ passage of a new health care law Thursday goes back on President Trump’s campaign promise to working-class voters, where he said no one would lose insurance and he wouldn’t touch entitlements like Medicare.
“It’s a basic betrayal of what Donald Trump campaigned on in Ohio,” Mr. Ryan said.
SEE ALSO: House passes GOP’s Obamacare replacement bill
Mr. Ryan challenged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi earlier this year to her leadership spot, saying the party was out of touch with the working class, but he lost his bid.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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