Lordstown Plant Closing: Ohio Politicians Lobby GM

DETROIT, MI — Three leading Ohio politicians lobbied on behalf of GM's Lordstown plant workers on Wednesday. Approximately 1,500 General Motors employees in Ohio will be laid off when the plant shuts down.

Last week, GM announced it would close its Lordstown operations, one part of the company's broad national cuts. The announcement made strange bedfellows of Democrats and Republicans, who jointly blasted the company.

On Wednesday, GM's Chief Executive Mary Barra met with Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown, Democrat, and Rob Portman, Republican. She also met with Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat representing Youngstown and Lordstown.

All three men urged Barra to keep the Lordstown plant open, Crain's Detroit reported. They outlined the fallout the closure could have on Ohio's Mahoning Valley, which has seen a bevy of businesses leave town in recent years, crippling local economies.

"Just as the workforce has stood with General Motors over the years, we expect GM to stand with these workers — and give them a chance," Portman said.

For her part, Barra was reticent to raise expectations of salvation for the plant. Instead, she highlighted her company's joint work with United Auto Workers to provide training and relocation to impacted workers.

When a heckler interrupted Barra, blasting her for not making more of an effort to salvage Lordstown, she said her company was "trying to do the right thing."

Besides pressure from Brown, Portman, and Ryan, Barra has also been publicly criticized by President Donald Trump and Toledo-area Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur. Both politicians noted that GM was aided by national bailout funds, but was looking to save money and cut workforce.

"Time and time again both the taxpayer and our workers have been asked to sacrifice for the good of the General Motors brand. This latest move from General Motors is an affront to that sacrifice," Kaptur said in a statement.

Trump said he had a personal conversation with Barra and told her to find a car that was selling well and move its production to Lordstown. He described his demeanor with the GM executive as "very tough."

General Motors blamed its national slicing of workforce on tariffs levied by Trump's administration. Some Ohio Democrats accepted that reasoning.

Ryan shared video footage from a 2017 Trump rally, in which the president promised to bring jobs to the Mahoning Valley. The Youngstown representative called the American system "broken."

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Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images