BOARDMAN, Ohio - While shaking hands with voters at GOP Headquarters in Boardman Tuesday night, Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel celebrated recent internal polling numbers.

"One of the main reasons we are so far ahead in the polls is because I'm out here talking about being proudly pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Trump and also anti-establishment," Mandel said. "I'm going to Washington not just to drain the swamp, but to blow up the swamp."

A poll commissioned by Mandel's campaign and conducted by Remington Research Group shows him with a 45% - 22% lead in a head-to-head matchup with rival Jane Timken and a 19 point lead against a full field of Republican candidates.

During his campaign, Mandel has not been one to hold back, attacking establishment republicans and the idea of bipartisanship.

"Now is not the time for bipartisanship, now is not the time for civility, now is the time for fighting," Mandel said. "I think we need fighters in Washington because if we send soft republicans there who are just these like squishy establishment republicans, they are going to get steamrolled by Pelosi and Schumer and Biden or whoever is running the country these days. We need to send fighters there, we need people like Jim Jordan and Ted Cruz and me who are going to fight the establishment, take on the lobbyists, take on the good ole boys and take on these squishy establishment republicans like Mitt Romney and others."

At the same time, Mandel also wants to go to Washington to root out foreign competition.

"I'm gonna be a worst nightmare to the Chinese Communist Party," Mandel said. "The Chinese Communist Party, they are cheaters, they've been stealing jobs from the state of Ohio, stealing jobs from the Mahoning Valley and when I go to Washington, I'm going to be the worst nightmare to the Chinese Communist Party. I'm going to standup for jobs here in the Youngstown area, I'm going to standup for jobs here in the United States of America."

That is a simliar focus for Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan, who says he's not worried about the republican nominee, but rather the American worker.

"I focus on what I can control and that's where my energy is and making sure I'm getting to every voter in the state and make sure that they understand that I'm going to fight like hell for them in the United States Senate and I'll let the Republican party determine who they are going to send to be their nominee but I'm focused on the workers, their pension, wages, making sure they get cut in on the deal and we'll see who the republican is," Ryan said. "They need a senator who really understands in their bones what workers in the Mahoning Valley, the Ohio Valley and all the other working class areas of the state are going through, nobody in this race understands that better than me. We're starting to deliver with infrastructure, with the child tax credit, with pensions for our friends in the Teamsters who were going to have their pension cut in half to two thirds, we've delivered and we're going to continue to deliver. We're out there and telling people we are on their side and we love them, we care about them and we're gonna make sure that coming out of this pandemic, they do a hell of a lot better than they were doing before this pandemic and ultimately that is what working people want."

So far, Ryan is the only candidate to enter the Democratic side of the Ohio Senate race. Other republicans include J.D. Vance, Mike Gibbons, Bernie Moreno and Matt Dolan.

The general election is set for November 8th, 2022.