Mon. 7:51 a.m.: Ryan officially declares for U.S. Senate race | News, Sports, Jobs

In this 2019, file photo, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, speaks during the New Hampshire state Democratic Party convention in Manchester, N.H. Ryan, a 10-term representative from Ohio’s blue-collar Mahoning Valley, officially launched his bid this morning for a coveted open Senate seat in Ohio. He becomes the Democratic frontrunner as the party goes after Republican Rob Portman’s seat in what stands to be one of 2022’s most closely watched Senate contests.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

WARREN — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan made it official today: he’s running for the U.S. Senate next year.

Ryan, D-Howland, declared his candidacy and filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to run for the Senate.

Ryan is the first Democrat to announce a bid for the Senate and is likely to be the leading candidate from his party for the position being vacated next year by the retirement of Sen. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park.

This newspaper reported April 2 that Ryan would make an announcement by the end of this month.

Ryan has been eyeing the Senate seat since Portman’s Jan. 25 retirement announcement, sending a fundraising email about the position about an hour after the incumbent’s decision was made public, and acknowledged he was “looking seriously at it. Ohio deserves leaders who fight for working people.”

Ryan raised $1,216,187.04 during the first three months of the year, including $939,787.04 from individual donors. Of the contributions, 88 percent were less than $200.

It was the most money Ryan ever raised in a quarter since he began serving in the U.S. House in January 2003. His previous best quarter was July to September 2020 in which he raised $586,146.

Ryan’s campaign is being managed by Dave Chase, who ran the re-election campaign of Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley in 2020. Left Hook, a prominent Democratic firm, is Ryan’s media consultant with Kimberly Padilla, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s former financial director who helped Ryan raise money in 2018, doing the same for his Senate race. Michael Morley, Ryan’s campaign manager, is a senior adviser to the Senate campaign.

There are at least four declared Republicans for the Senate race: Jane Timken, the former Ohio Republican Party chairwoman; Josh Mandel, a two-time state treasurer; Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland-area auto dealer and tech entrepreneur; and Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland-area investment banker and real estate developer who lost a 2018 Republican primary race for a Senate seat.

For more, read Tuesday’s print and online editions.