Bernie Moreno achieves Ohio Senate Republican primary, setting up high-stakes battle in November
Businessman Bernie Moreno will face Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, this fall after winning Ohio’s combative Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday.
He defeated state Sen. Matt Dolan and Secretary of State Frank LaRose in a contest that pitted the GOP’s old guard against allies of former President Donald Trump.
Results are unofficial until the votes are canvassed after election day.
Tuesday's election concluded a tight race that became increasingly vicious in its final weeks. The candidates and their allies spent millions of dollars to spar on the airwaves as they clamored for voters’ support. Most attacks centered around the candidates’ conservative credentials and whether they’d have Trump’s back if he’s reelected in November.
Moreno’s victory was far from assured. Trump endorsed him back in December, but the nod didn’t put the race away like many expected. Instead, Moreno struggled for weeks to break away from the pack and whittle down a plurality of undecided voters that dominated most polls.
In the end, a flurry of visits to Ohio from Trump and his allies pushed Moreno over the finish line.
Throughout the race, Dolan and LaRose highlighted Moreno’s shifting positions on gun control and immigration. He was also dogged by legal trouble from his car dealership days, including over a dozen lawsuits in Massachusetts that accused him of not properly paying overtime to his employees.
Moreno’s biggest competition came from Dolan, who secured endorsements from Gov. Mike DeWine and former Sen. Rob Portman. Dolan cast himself as a pragmatist with a plan to solve problems and criticized Republicans who think civility is a weakness. But his late momentum wasn’t enough to beat back the Trump machine that labeled him a RINO, or Republican in Name Only.
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