The Dispute Index

Ryan Smith

Ryan Smith is president of the University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College. He previously served as a Republican Ohio state representative and speaker of the Ohio House.

Website (opens in a new tab)
X (opens in a new tab)LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)

What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Ryan Smith on 2026 Midterm Elections, Media, and U.S. Politics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Ryan Smith

Ryan Smith

Role at the time: Former speaker of the Ohio House

Condemned

Statement summary

Smith calls it ridiculous to defend a horrible ad and criticize people for whining. He tells the ad's defenders to stop normalizing bad behavior and embarrassing the party.

“It is beyond ridiculous to defend a horrible ad and criticize people for whining? What happened to human decency? Stop normalizing bad behavior and embarrassing the party. Ohio deserves better than this!”
Read the original post (opens in a new tab)Ryan Smith criticizes the Acton advertisement and its defense
Why we used this label

Smith explicitly calls the ad horrible and describes its defense as normalizing bad behavior.

Read statementRamaswamy's campaign defends using Amy Acton's estranged mother in an attack ad

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.