YOUNGSTOWN — Even if U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders doesn’t leave the presidential race until after the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan said the party will rally around former Vice President Joe Biden as its nominee.

“You’ve got a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” Ryan said Monday after speaking at a Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber breakfast at Stambaugh Auditorium. “Joe Biden has a very long progressive record around health care, around violence against women (issues), around an assault weapon ban. So it’s like he’s got credentials. But for (Sanders supporters) the prospect of Donald Trump getting another four years will get everybody focused.”

After Sanders left the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, the party’s failed nominee. But Clinton blamed Sanders and his supporters for not doing enough to unify behind her.

Ryan, D-Howland, said this year will be different because voters have “seen (Trump) operate” as president the past three-plus years compared to 2016 when the Republican had never held elected office before.

Ryan endorsed Biden on Nov. 13, 2019 — 20 days after he quit as a presidential candidate. He was the first former Democratic presidential candidate to endorse Biden. Also, Ryan campaigned Sunday in Cincinnati and Columbus for Biden and plans to be with the former vice president today when he makes a stop in Cleveland.

Biden fared poorly in the first three Democratic presidential races — losing in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada — while Sanders of Vermont became the front-runner.

Biden’s “pivot-point was South Carolina,” Ryan said. “Now if you watch too much TV, you’d think it was over (before that). But we knew and then he blew (Sanders) out (on Super Tuesday, March 3). Look at the polls now even in Michigan, Missouri, (Biden’s) up. In Florida, he’s up huge. Mississippi and Georgia, he’s up huge so he’ll keep it rolling.”

With Ohio, Florida, Illinois and Arizona having primaries March 17 — and six states, including Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi, having primaries or caucuses today — Ryan said he’s hopeful Biden will emerge as the party’s runaway leader by next week.

“That’s why I’m working Ohio as hard as I can for him because if we can do really well that day on the 17th, it will be way out of reach for Bernie,” Ryan said.

Asked if it would be a benefit to Biden for Sanders to withdraw after that, Ryan said, “I don’t think it matters, but certainly it would be best at that point. But who knows? He may want to capture as many delegates as he can to go to the convention even though he knows he can’t get the majority.”

Ryan was also critical of how Trump’s administration is handling the outbreak of COVID-19 — novel coronavirus.

“It sounds like they weren’t acting in an assertive way,” Ryan said. “Now that it looks like it’s here, we’re going to have to start dealing with it.”

He added: “In the middle of a pandemic, (Trump) shows up at the Centers for Disease Control (and Prevention) with his campaign hat on.”

Trump tweeted Monday: “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General ‘The risk is low to the average American.'”

Ryan said: “The real concern is what could happen to our hospitals. If millions of people have it, it’s not going to kill millions of people, but 20 percent of them are going to have pneumonia and one in six of that 20 percent are going to need to go to a hospital. So you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people that need a hospital bed and they only have a few hundred, two, 300,000 empty hospital beds on any given day. You’re talking about a real health care crisis.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com