Rep. Tim Ryan agrees to to U.S. Senate candidate debate — with a catch

COLUMBUS, Ohio — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, the frontrunner in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, has agreed to debate his opponents in March, as long as they’re all allowed to participate.

Ryan agreed to participate in a March 28 debate at Central State University in Wilberforce, near Dayton, his campaign said Thursday. He also will take part in a town hall sometime in April organized by the Ohio Young Black Democrats and Ohio Young Democrats, the specific date for which has not yet been set.

But Ryan said he only would do the March 28 debate if all Democratic U.S. Senate candidates who qualified for the ballot all would also be on the stage.

Ryan’s condition would apply not only to Morgan Harper, a Columbus attorney and activist who is actively campaigning against him, but also to Traci Johnson, a political unknown whom the state officially certified for the ballot on Monday, determining she submitted 1,000 valid signatures from Democratic Ohio voters along with her candidate petitions.

Ryan’s condition could run counter to the rules set by organizer of the March 28 debate, the Ohio Debate Commission, a nonpartisan consortium that includes cleveland.com / The Plain Dealer and other legacy Ohio media outlets.

The commission’s criteria for candidates — which Harper and Ryan easily meet — include either poling at at least 7.5% in an independent poll, or requiring them to have a staffed campaign office and raise a minimum of $100,000 for their campaign, among other conditions, and requiring them to have a social media presence with at least 25 non-bot followers. A reporter could not locate a campaign-finance report in U.S. Federal Election Commission records. Johnson’s campaign Facebook page had three followers as of late Thursday afternoon.

In a post on Twitter, Harper suggested Ryan is trying to duck debating her. Harper has challenged Ryan to debate her repeatedly in the past — maximizing the number of debates is a common political tactic for underdogs, while trying to minimize or avoid them increasingly is a common tactic for favored candidates.

“A conditional acceptance is not an acceptance. Enough with the games and delay tactics. Let’s debate,” said Harper, who in lieu of debating Ryan has scheduled a pair of debates with Josh Mandel, the former state treasurer and early frontrunner in the Republican U.S. Senate field.

Ryan is just trying to be respectful of all the candidates, said Izzi Levy, a campaign spokeswoman.

“We just think if you do the work to gather 1,000 signatures, which is no small feat, you should have the opportunity to publicly share your ideas,” Levy said.

But Levy confirmed the campaign’s position is that Ryan will not participate if Johnson doesn’t meet the debate commission’s candidate criteria.

Jill Miller Zimon, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Debate Commission, said her organization continues to work with candidates to schedule a debate for the race.

“We respect that candidates and campaigns have a lot of decisions to make and they want those decisions to be decisions that will help the candidate win. The debate commission is committed to having debates that help voters make decisions, and we are in the business of democracy,” Zimon said.

Cleveland.com / Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn is a member of the Ohio Debate Commission’s board of directors.