COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno won Ohio’s Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, just days after former President Donald Trump visited the state to boost his endorsed candidate in a three-way race that remained competitive to the end.
Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno won Ohio’s Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, just days after former President Donald Trump visited the state to boost his endorsed candidate in a three-way race that remained competitive to the end.
Moreno prevailed after a contentious and expensive fight against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Cleveland-area state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose relentless attacks may yet damage him headed into this fall. That’s when he’ll face off against three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a staple of Ohio politics who’s among the year’s most vulnerable Democrats.
Brown responded to the news on X: “The choice ahead of Ohio is clear: Bernie Moreno has spent his career and campaign putting himself first, and would do the same if elected. I’ll always work for Ohio.”
The general election fight is expected to be at least as fierce in a state that has trended Republican in recent years. With Democrats holding a tenuous 51-49 voting majority in the Senate but defending more seats than Republicans, Brown’s seat is expected to be a top GOP target. He is the lone Democrat holding a non-judicial statewide office in Ohio, a state that has moved steadily to the right during the Trump era.
In a move that drew bipartisan rebukes, Senate Majority PAC, an independent group aligned with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, spent $2.7 million to elevate Moreno’s primary bid, with the idea that he would be the weakest against Brown this fall.
Brown is expected to make abortion rights a cornerstone of his campaign. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, Ohioans strongly supported a state constitutional amendment last year to protect access to the procedure.
Moreno, a former luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, weathered controversy late in the campaign.
