Super PACs have spent nearly $90 million to back Republican Bernie Moreno in the crucial Ohio Senate race.
Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno is receiving significantly more outside PAC support than Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio’s Senate race, according to new data.
Ohio’s Senate race could play a key role in whether Democrats retain the majority in the upper chamber. Ohio was once a battleground that has slowly drifted toward Republicans in recent elections, but Brown has shown an ability to outrun other Democrats in the Rust Belt state. But presidential turnout and the continued decline of ticket splitting has fueled GOP hopes that Moreno could win the toss-up race in the state where former President Donald Trump is expected to top Vice President Kamala Harris.
Brown, first elected to the Senate in 2006, currently has more money in the bank than Moreno, who won the GOP primary with Trump’s endorsement despite concerns that other, more moderate, Republicans may have made a stronger candidate.
Despite trailing in money in the bank, outside PACs have spent nearly $90 million in efforts to support Moreno throughout the campaign thus far, according to independent expenditure data posted to X (formerly Twitter) by Rob Pyers, the research director for nonpartisan group California Target Book.
Meanwhile, pro-Brown PACs have spent $22.5 million on the race, according to the data.
According to the nonprofit OpenSecrets, Moreno has received more than $50 million support from two super PACs alone.
Defend American Jobs, a super PAC affiliated with the cryptocurrency industry, has spent nearly $35 million on the race in support of Moreno. Meanwhile, the Senate Leadership Fund—affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican—has spent more than $20 million on the race, according to OpenSecrets.
