Debate Night, Part 2: Will J.D. Vance answer for his investment in company that outsourced jobs to China?

Last week, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D) squared off in the first televised debate against his political rival, J.D. Vance (R), and the two quickly descended into a flurry of attacks. One of the standout moments from the debate surrounded ongoing issues of trade with China. Ryan claimed that Vance has invested into companies that are outsourcing jobs to the country. Vance quickly denied these claims. 

Responding to a claim by Ryan that his first venture capital investment went into a company that shipped jobs to China, Vance expressed that the representative “couldn’t even name the company that I allegedly invested in that ships jobs to China.” 

Asked by Ryan if he had invested in any Chinese companies, Vance questionably responded, “not that I know of.”

J.D. Vance asks Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) why his Youngstown congressional district is losing jobs to China.

RYAN: “Because guys like you make money investing in China!”

Pressed on whether he did that (he did), Vance replies “Not that I know of…” pic.twitter.com/feqE9YXzAg

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) October 11, 2022

Ryan circled around to the issue, claiming, “J.D. Vance is invested into [sic] companies in China. The problem we’re having now with inflation is our supply chains all went to China.” Ryan continued, saying, “And guys like him have made a lot of money off that, and that is exactly why the supply chains are locked up.”

Users on social media were not happy with the response and believed there was more to what he was letting on. Speculation developed as to the company Ryan failed to remember at the debate, people dived into Vance’s investments and business ventures. One such company that raised suspicion was Utah-based company, Cotopaxi. 

During 2018, Cotopaxi received funding from Rise of the Rest, an early-investment seed fund under the Revolution venture capital firm. AOL founder Steve Case founded the fund as a means to invest in companies not on the East or West coasts, and he tapped Vance to help in 2017.

Rise of the Rest features shareholders such as Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Eric Schmidt (Alphabet), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Henry Kravis (KKR) and Sara Blakely (Spanx).

Cotopaxi owns two factories in China, located in Tianjin and Shanghai. Founder Davis Smith told a The Salt Lake Tribune columnist in May 2019 that 22% of the company’s products are imported from China.

James Roh, a Cotopaxi ambassador, claims on his website, “Cotopaxi is proud of its supply chain partners in China and want their [sic] audiences to know why. Through audits and collaboration, they ensure that their partners are ethical, environmentally friendly, and prioritize worker wellbeing.”

Vance also held personal investments in Global Uprising PBC — which operates as Cotopaxi — as recently as last month, according to a Senate financial disclosure. The report lists his investment as anywhere between $1,001 and $15,000.

Vance and Ryan will continue their race for the open Ohio senate seat as we approach November. The candidates are fighting for the spot to succeed Sen. Rob Portman, who decided not to run for office again. This will be an up-hill battle for Tim Ryan, as his opposition is receiving up to $30 million dollars in advertising for his campaign. While Tim Ryan raised $17.2 million dollars in fundraising in the third quarter, the Democratic candidate is struggling to receive additional funding from his party.