U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, speaks before former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump takes the stage during a Buckeye Values PAC rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on the 16 March 2024.
Kamil Krzaczynski Afp | Getty Images
Donald Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno will win Ohio’s Republican Senate primary, NBC News programs, setting up a high-stakes contest in November against incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
“What we have to do now is, as a fully united party, understand that we have a mission, which is to get rid of Sherrod Brown,” Moreno said in a victory speech in suburban Cleveland on Tuesday night.
Moreno’s main challenger was state Sen. Matt Dolan, who secured the endorsement of the popular Republican governor of Ohio. Mike DeWine early last week. Secretary of State Frank LaRose was also on the ballot, but held steady in third place, funded by his wealthier competitors.
Moreno’s victory sends an early message for this election year: Trump’s MAGA stamp of approval may have a power in 2024 that it didn’t have several years ago.
“I wear it with honor. My endorsement of the President, but from President Trump, I wear it with a badge of honor,” Moreno said.
In 2020, Trump lost the White House to President Joe Biden and the GOP lost both houses of Congress. In 2022, many Trump-backed candidates underperformed in key races, although Republicans managed to take back the House.
With memories of that paltry record still fresh, the Ohio race was positioned as a test of whether the former president’s support had renewed influence in the GOP establishment this year.
The success of Moreno, 57, a politically inexperienced businessman who made his living as a luxury car dealer and blockchain investor, over career politician Dolan bolsters Trump’s comeback thesis.
“It’s obvious that Donald Trump’s support for Bernie Moreno was a key factor,” Dolan told reporters after conceding the race to Moreno.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump greets Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno during a rally at Dayton International Airport on March 16, 2024 in Vandalia, Ohio.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
With Tuesday’s primary battle in the background, Moreno’s campaign now moves into the general election as the Republican party counts on him to unseat Sen. Brown and help regain control of the Senate.
There has already been GOP talk of Moreno’s ability to flip the Democratic seat. Especially since he faced backlash after one Associated Press report that linked his email address to a 2008 account on a casual sex site seeking “Men for 1-on-1 Sex.”
Moreno’s lawyer later released a statement saying a former intern of Moreno’s had created the account as a hoax.
In the days leading up to the Senate race, a Democratic PAC spent millions on ads intended to boost Moreno, reflecting Democrats’ belief that it would be easier for Brown to defeat Moreno in November than Dolan.
Ohio has gone redder in recent election cycles, and Trump won the state in 2016 and 2020. The GOP has been trying to capitalize on the Buckeye State’s red tide to help the party regain control of the Senate.
“Ohio is probably one of the states that decides who controls the United States Senate,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday. “So there’s a lot at stake in this election.”