Democrat Tim Ryan touts Fox News appearances in new Ohio Senate campaign ad

Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio), a Democrat running for Senate in an increasingly red state, is touting interviews, appearances and mentions on the conservative Fox News channel in a new campaign ad.

Ryan appears throughout the 30-second campaign ad, titled "Fox News Friends," as several Fox hosts and reporters compliment him in a series of video clips.

In the ad, Fox personality Bret Baier calls Ryan "tough on China" and and reporter Peter Doocy says the congressman has "more moderate ideas" than most Democrats. One clip even shows prime-time host Tucker Carlson talking Ryan up for shutting down other Democrats on border security.

The ad shows Ryan is courting Republican and conservative voters as well as independents and more moderate Democrats in his Ohio race against Trump-endorsed GOP candidate J.D. Vance, a venture capitalist known for his 2016 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy."

Vance and Ryan are locked in a dead heat for the open U.S. Senate seat in early polls, though Ryan did rake in a whopping $9.1 million in fundraising for the second quarter of the year.

Ryan, who has represented Ohio's 13th Congressional district since 2002, has often been called a conservative Democrat because of his previous anti-abortion position, which he has since had a change of heart on.

The congressman has also been criticized by progressives for his hardline stance against universal health care plans such as Medicare-for-all.