Ohio Dem Danny O’Connor Takes on Pelosi As Race Too Close to Call: We Need ‘New Generation of Leadership’

Democratic Ohio congressional candidate Danny O’Connor gave an interview to CNN on Wednesday, during which he took the opportunity to take shots at Republican opponent Troy Balderson along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Even though Balderson most likely defeated O’Conner last night in their battle for the right-leaning district, election officials are still sorting through the ballots after the race was deemed to close to call right away. During his conversation with John Berman, O’Conner went into detail about his campaign’s outreach strategy and his thoughts about what the election could say about the rest of the country.

Since O’Connor has been clear about his aversion to Pelosi in the past, he was asked whether supporting her is too politically “toxic” now for Democrats trying to attract new voters. O’Connor answered that people clearly want “a new generation of leadership” in Washington, therefore they’re intrigued by those who present themselves as independents focused on the issues.

“We can do better than we’re doing right now. We need to have the backs of working folks. Folks ask me why I’m running for office and it’s because there are families who get up every day, they get their kids on the school bus, they clock into work, they come home, they help their kids with home work, and they do everything right but no one is fighting for them in Washington.”

The conversation eventually turned to how Balderson flew President Trump in for a last minute rally that might’ve ginned up enough support for him to secure victory. O’Conner snarked about that as he noted how Balderson had to ask Washington for help instead of talking to people about their problems.

“I don’t think he knows what he is talking about. You can fly in, hang out here for a couple hours, fly out. You don’t walk our roads, you don’t have kids in our schools, you don’t deal with the public health crisis of addiction we have in our state every day. I think it’s more important to have grassroots conversations. Troy Balderson can have all of the people he wants fly in from DC, I don’t think it makes that much of a difference. I think the reason we’re having so much success and that this race is a tie ball game is we’re criss-cross this district talking to voters about important issues that matter to them.”

Watch above, via CNN.

[Image via screengrab]

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