Rep. Tim Ryan endorses Biden in Democratic primary

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a former Democratic presidential candidate, on Wednesday endorsed Joe Biden in the party’s 2020 nominating contest, citing the former vice president’s appeal to working class voters in the American Midwest.

“I think this election for many, many Democrats — regardless of where you live — is about who can beat Donald Trump, and the key to that is who can beat Donald Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin and western Pennsylvania, in Ohio, and I'm convinced that that's Joe Biden,” Ryan told the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“I just think he's the person who has, you know, the sensibilities,” he continued, citing Biden’s “touch with those blue collar workers that we have to have if we're going to beat Donald Trump, which is the goal here.”

Ryan, who exited the Democratic race late last month, predicated his own White House bid on an appeal to the “forgotten people” of the industrial flyover states Trump flipped in 2016 to capture an Electoral College victory and seize the presidency.

One of the moderating voices in the crowded Democratic field, the congressman’s campaign frequently pushed back against the liberal policy prescriptions favored by top-tier progressive contenders including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Ryan took another implicit shot at their more liberal candidacies Wednesday, advocating an ideological middle ground and emphasizing the need to oust Trump from office as the party's priority.

“I know a lot of candidates and people are talking about, ‘We want a revolution. We want to have big changes. We want to save the environment.’ The best thing we could do … to have a revolution in the United States is to get rid of Donald Trump,” he said.

“To me, it's clear as you go round and round and think about all of these great candidates, that that's Joe Biden,” Ryan added. “And I'm going to support him. I'm going to do everything I can for him in the early states and in the Midwest to help him become the nominee and beat Donald Trump.”