By Justin Chermol

As some candidates in the growing field of Democratic presidential contenders embrace highly progressive, even socialist policies, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio said he's sticking with a capitalist approach to help struggling workers hurt by trade and budget cuts.

"I am a capitalist," Ryan said Friday in an interview with Cheddar. "I'm hostile to income inequality, I am hostile to concentration of wealth, I am hostile to greed, but I am not hostile to the free-market system."

Ryan, an eight-term Democrat, represents a district in northeast Ohio, where General Motors recently shut down its Lordstown plant, laying off more than 1,300 workers. He said national policies need to focus on protecting these workers, and others in parts of the country where voters who may have supported President Trump feel let down by his trade policies.

"Trump hasn't done anything, let's be honest," Ryan said. "The trade deal has been a joke. It's blown up in his face. Rural America is getting killed. Farmers haven't made a profit in five years. So Trump is not pro-rural America, Tim Ryan is pro-rural America."

Ryan is one of 17 announced candidates running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, including many candidates who have adopted a far-left, progressive economic agenda that some have likened to Democratic Socialism.

Ryan's message, he said, is more loyal to a free-market system, but it should be more expansive: "The workers gotta get cut in on the deal here!"

He said he wants to invest heavily in healthcare and education, and invest in a new generation of clean energy technologies and electric vehicles.

"I say we grab this technology, I say we dominate it, I say we infuse it into our older industries, we crank up older productivity, and we cut the worker in on the deal," Ryan said.

For full interview click here.