U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, who represented Ohio’s 13th Congressional District for 20 years, will visit Vanderbilt to discuss his efforts to work across party lines at an event hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. This in-person-only event will be in Wilson Hall, Room 103, 111 21st Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212.
Ryan will discuss his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, his recent campaign for the U.S. Senate, the importance of civil dialogue in American politics and bipartisan efforts to break the hyperpolarization in Congress. During his campaign, Ryan made strong efforts to speak to constituents outside traditional party lines. In his 20 years of service in the U.S. House, Ryan has become an encouraging voice for bipartisan efforts to strengthen and repair America’s systems.
In his farewell speech on the House floor, Ryan urged Congress to embrace compassion and collaboration: “We’re not going to fix [these broken systems] 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.”
John M. Seigenthaler, senior partner at FINN Partners, will lead this in-person conversation. During his 11 years at NBC News, Seigenthaler anchored the NBC Nightly News Weekend edition, appeared on Meet the Press, Dateline, TODAY, Weekend TODAY, MSNBC, CNBC and the Discovery Channel. He was also an anchor and reporter in television news at KOMO-TV (ABC) in Seattle and WKRN-TV (ABC) and WSMV-TV (NBC) in Nashville.
About Tim Ryan
Tim Ryan served the working families in Northeast Ohio’s 13th Congressional District in the U.S. Congress for 20 years. Ryan has been ahead of his time in promoting health and wellness initiatives, reforming food and agriculture systems, and highlighting alternatives to heal troubled veterans. He is the author of a book on the power of mindfulness, Healing America: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Recapture the American Spirit, and a book on reforming the broken food systems, The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries, and the Return of the American Family Farm. Ryan lives in Ohio with his wife, Andrea, his children Mason, Bella and Brady, and the family’s two dogs, Bear and Buckeye. He spends his leisure time coaching his sons’ sports, practicing hot yoga, hunting and playing golf.