WASHINGTON — Last week marked the end of an era in Congress. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) delivered his final speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The 49-year-old Ryan departs Washington after representing the Mahoning Valley as a member of the House since 2003. He was defeated by JD Vance last month in the race for Ohio's open U.S. Senate seat.
"I feel tremendously grateful to come from a working-class family in Ohio and end up here for 20 years, serving the communities that I grew up in, that I played sports in, that I raised my family in, and it's an honor to be a citizen of the United States," Ryan said during his speech.
The 10-term congressman was known for fiery floor speeches and short-lived campaigns for other offices, including the White House. He was a strong advocate for manufacturing jobs and blue-collar workers.
In his remarks, Ryan called on Congress to "embrace compassion" and for both Democrats and Republicans to find away to break the hyperpartisanship that has been so evident in Washington.
"The systems are all broken — the economic system is broken, the immigration system is broken, the welfare system is broken, the education system is broken," Ryan added. "We're not going to fix these problems if we're not decent to each other. If we don't talk to each other. Some of the solutions will be conservative, some will be liberal and progressive. But it's through that conflict, those arguments and debates that this very chamber was set up to do, that we come to the best possible solution. And that, ultimately, is what we're talking about."
Ryan was seeking to replace Sen. Rob Portman, who decided not to run for a third term in office. Portman delivered a farewell speech of his own on the Senate floor earlier this month and was honored by his Ohio counterpart Sen. Sherrod Brown in remarks last week.
You can watch Ryan's speech in the player above or below.