BOARDMAN — Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said “the left that controls their (Democratic) Party is crazy.”

Jordan, R-Urbana, said during a Thursday stop for U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, and other Republicans at Mahoning County Republican Party headquarters, “The left is not only crazy, the left is mean. The left have a template they tell all the time. The left will tell the lie, big media will repeat the lie, big tech will amplify the lie, and when you tell the truth, they call you a racist. They’ll attack you and call you a liar. Your position will be proven to be true and accurate. By that point, they’re on to the next lie.”

Jordan spent time during the stop to tout the presidency of Republican Donald Trump, a close political ally.

In comparing Trump’s previous administration to the Democratic one with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Jordan said, “We went from a secure border to no border. We went from safe streets to record crime. We went from $2 gas to $4 gas, and we went from stable prices to record inflation.”

Republicans rejected a bipartisan border bill in the Senate earlier this year at the behest of Trump.

Recent statistics from the FBI shows crime, including serious violent crime such as murder and rape, dropped nationally from 2022 to 2023. Those same statistics show the murder rate dropped 11.6%, the largest single-year decline in the past 20 years.

When Trump left office, the average price of gas per gallon was $2.39. While gasoline has exceeded $4 per gallon at times during Biden’s administration, it now is $3.20, according to AAA.

Mahoning County Democratic Chairman Chris Anderson said, “Inflation is a global problem that we need to do more to address. That’s getting up every day to work on inflation. If (Jordan) wants to do something, he’d help Democrats.”

Jordan said, “The left is now the party of censorship. We’re the party of common sense and defending the principles that are contained in our constitution. That’s what this election is about.”

Jordan said Democrats have done everything they can to try to destroy Trump, including “crazy indictments” and “two assassination attempts,” and “through it all, he has persevered.”

Jordan had kind words for Rulli, who won a special June 11 election to fill the remainder of Republican Bill Johnson’s term representing the 6th Congressional District. Rulli is running for a full two-year term in the Nov. 5 election against Democrat Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown.

“Thank you for putting a good guy in the United States Congress,” Jordan said of Rulli. “Michael is a good man.”

Rulli is the newest member of the House Judiciary Committee, meaning he is last to ask questions.

“He waits and then he fires off his questions,” Jordan said. “He is there to represent you. He’s the kind of guy who won’t forget the families, the business owners and the community he gets the chance to serve in the United States Congress. As long as he keeps putting his name on the ballot, you all keep sending him there because he’s doing a good job.”

Rulli called Jordan “one of the great Americans in the country,” and someone who has helped him dating back to his first state Senate campaign in 2018.

Rulli urged those attending the Thursday event to vote early.

“We’re going to play by their (Democratic) rules and beat them by their rules,” he said. “You know why? We need to make this too big to rig.”

Rulli said Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, does a great job overseeing elections. But Democrats “have dead people they like to keep on the (voter) rolls so they can do their monkey business. Frank LaRose cleaned up those rolls.”

Asked to comment, Anderson said, “I know Congressman Rulli didn’t pay much attention in the state Senate, but the Republicans have passed the most restrictive laws on voting. I’d ask him to stop scapegoating people unless it’s truly possible he has no idea what he’s doing.”

Jordan also spoke Thursday against state Issue 1, which would take control over redistricting state legislative and congressional lines out of the hands of elected politicians and give it to an appointed 15-member committee consisting of five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents.

“It would be 15 Dr. (Anthony) Faucis drawing the lines,” Jordan said of Fauci, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, including during the pandemic.

Jordan said Fauci, whom he has criticized for years, was wrong on practically everything he said about COVID-19.

Anderson said, “It’s rich that Jim Jordan would make those comments when he’s the embodiment of gerrymandering. If it wasn’t for gerrymandering, Jim Jordan would be a footnote in history.”

dskolnick@vindy.com