Tim Ryan, the Democratic Senate candidate in Ohio, accepted money from an opioid distributor whose executives mocked addicts as "pillbillies."
- Emails revealed in 2021 during a lawsuit against the company for its alleged role in the opioid crisis showed AmerisourceBergen's executives expressing broad contempt for poor whites suffering from addiction, which at the time was largely fueled by pharmaceuticals such as OxyContin.
- The donation could prove to be a political liability for Ryan, a Democrat running in a state that has been inordinately impacted by the epidemic.
Ryan's Republican opponent J.D. Vance
- Vance rose to prominence for his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which gave an inside look at the drug crisis in Appalachia
- On the campaign trail, Vance's message often focuses on his time growing up in Ohio as the son of a mother who battled addiction
- In response, Ryan has attacked Vance's dormant nonprofit Our Ohio Renewal
- Former employees of the nonprofit told the Free Beacon they were proud of what the organization accomplished in a short period of time
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