U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan has no intentions of leaving the House to join the administration of President-elect Joe Biden or running for statewide office in 2022.

But the latter comes with a caveat.

If the redrawing of congressional lines for the 2022 election gives him an unfavorable district or forces him to run against another incumbent, Ryan, D-Howland, said, “It’s a different ballgame. We have to see what redistricting looks like. We’re hanging back and seeing what that looks like. If it’s bad, we’ll re-evaluate. We have to see the district.”

Ryan long has been discussed as a statewide candidate. But Ryan, who won his 10th two-year term in the House in this past election, said, “I don’t have any interest in that. No, uh-uh, no interest. My preference is to get a good district and keep doing what we’re doing. I don’t want to run for a different office.”

It appears that Ohio will lose a congressional district for the 2022 election because the state’s population hasn’t grown as much as some other states. The number of House seats are distributed each decade to each state based on population from the census.

Ryan’s 13th District boundaries were drawn in 2012 by state Republicans to make it a safe Democratic district along with three others in Ohio. By bunching Democratic areas into those four districts and splitting other Democratic areas among the rest, Republicans designed 12 districts that favor their political party. Since those lines were drawn to favor Republicans 12-4, not a single seat has flipped to the other party.

The congressional district lines will be drawn next year in time for the 2022 election.

Ryan’s current district includes portions of Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage, Summit and Stark counties.

Because Mahoning, Trumbull and Portage counties have become more Republican over the past decade — and particularly in the past four years — Ryan’s seat could be targeted if there isn’t a retirement in 2022.

CONTINUED EROSION

While final results won’t be certified until Wednesday, Ryan was ahead of Republican Christina Hagan of Marlboro Township by 7.5 percent on election night.

It was a continued erosion of support for Ryan in the district.

Ryan won by 45.6 percent in 2012, 37 percent in 2014, 35.5 percent in 2016 and 22 percent in 2018.

In this election, Ryan lost Trumbull, his home county, by 1.2 percent to Hagan. President Donald Trump, a Republican, won the county by 10.4 percent.

Trump is leading Mahoning County by 1.93 percent, while Ryan won it by 13.9 percent.

“I didn’t get as many votes as I liked, but there were a lot of Trump-Ryan voters,” he said. “The environment in Trumbull County will be much, much different in two years than it is now. All the businesses that are under construction will come on line by the next election cycle. The one criticism I’ve heard of me from my friends and supporters is I don’t tell people what I’m doing. I’m not only going to do that, but people will see it.”

Ryan said it’s going to be difficult for Democrats to make inroads during the 2022 statewide election. Democrats have won executive branch elections only once — in 2006 — since 1990.

“It is going to be challenging in 2022,” Ryan said “My intention and (Biden’s) intention is to change the mentality of the party and not be considered coastal, liberal elites. The party brand is going to change. Definitely Ohio will be a challenge in 2022.”

He added, “We keep winning (Ohio) Supreme Court races because our candidates are talking about working-class issues and they don’t have a D by their name. It tells you the D brand is not good in Ohio.”

Traditionally, the political party in the White House loses congressional seats in nonpresidential elections.

AFTER COVID-19

With Biden named president once the results are certified, Democrats “may catch a break” in 2022 as the economy is sure to be stronger once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, Ryan said.

“The economy will rebound simply from the COVID recovery,” he said.

Ryan added that he hasn’t been asked by the Biden transition team to be a part of the incoming administration and doesn’t want a spot.

That’s because, he said, he doesn’t want to give up his seniority and position in the House.

Ryan said he’s excited to become the vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee. It’s the largest appropriations subcommittee with a budget of about $700 billion.

That will allow additional funding, Ryan said, to come to the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna; Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center in Ravenna; the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute and the Youngstown Business Incubator, both in Youngstown; as well as numerous private businesses and research money for local universities.

“This is exactly what we were talking about 18 to 20 years ago,” he said. “It’s about creating new jobs, technology and improving quality of life. We’ve got private investment happening. We’ve stayed with this despite the ups and downs.”

In addition, Lordstown Motors Corp. and Ultium Cells — the latter is a joint venture between General Motors and LG Chem — as well as TJX HomeGoods will come online in the next two years.

“This is the vision we had for these communities in the Valley,” Ryan said. “In the next year or so we’ll be able to say, ‘Look, this is what we’ve worked on for nearly 20 years.'”

In addition to becoming vice chairman of defense, Ryan will remain chairman of the committee’s Legislative Branch Subcommittee, which controls funding of the legislative branch including the House of Representatives, Congressional Budget Office, Library of Congress, Government Accountability Office and Capitol Police.

“It puts you at the table,” he said. “It’s like being the mayor of Capitol Hill. We’re in the room and working through the process.”

He’s also the fourth-most senior Democrat on the committee’s Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

“That will provide more and more opportunities for the airbase and Ravenna,” Ryan said.