According to a new report from The Daily Beast, MAGA Republican candidate Craig Riedel (OH-09) is refusing to visit the picket line and “has yet to release any public statement supporting the auto workers or the strike.”
In the state legislature, Riedel cosponsored six constitutional amendments to enact right-to-work in Ohio and repeal prevailing wage laws.
Since the beginning of the strike at the Jeep plant in Toledo, Riedel has prioritized “attending the Little Brown Jug Horse Race and, on the second day of the strike, parades in two towns no more than a 20-minute and 40-minute drive from the plant.”
For decades, Republicans have campaigned on promises to weaken organized labor.
But in the face of a pivotal moment for the labor movement—a historic auto workers walkout—some GOP candidates are trying to talk about anything but the strike.
In Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, where Jeep workers are currently on strike at the company’s Toledo plant, Republican congressional hopeful Craig Riedel has yet to release any public statement supporting the auto workers or the strike.
As his possible Democratic opponent, longtime Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), met with the workers on the picket line outside the Jeep plant, Riedel has been tweeting about having “so much fun” at a college football game between Notre Dame and Ohio State, along with attending the Little Brown Jug Horse Race and, on the second day of the strike, parades in two towns no more than a 20-minute and 40-minute drive from the plant.
Riedel’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
DCCC Spokesperson Aidan Johnson:
“Craig Riedel has a long anti-worker record of putting corporate special interests ahead of Northwest Ohio. Riedel has repeatedly pushed efforts to enact right-to-work in Ohio, and repeal prevailing wage laws, so it’s fitting that he won’t stand with the UAW workers on the picket line fighting for fair pay and the right to retire with dignity.”
