Voters chose Republican Bernie Moreno to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate, according to Associated Press projections based on unofficial results. Moreno defeated incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, who has held the position since 2006. Results remain unofficial until certified by local boards of elections and the Ohio Secretary of State.
The Cleveland-area businessman’s victory means Brown has a seat in the U.S. Senate after 18 years. For the first time since Brown took office, two Republicans will represent Ohio in the House.
Moreno amassed a significant personal fortune through car dealerships. From there, he became interested in blockchain and founded a company using the technology for vehicle titles and registrations. Democrats tried to turn that success against Moreno, portraying the wealthy businessman as a “fat cat” and pointing to a string of wage theft cases filed against him.
Moreno, like JD Vance before him, counted on Donald Trump’s support and won the primaries, and then remained faithful to the former president’s rhetoric throughout the entire race.
During the campaign, Moreno sharply criticized Brown on the economy and immigration, hanging the perceived failures of the Biden administration around the senator’s neck. In the final stages of the campaign, he and his allies launched a series of anti-transgender attacks on Brown.
Attempts to push back against Brown — touting his record on job protections, voting for bipartisan immigration reform and dismissing anti-transgender lines of attack as specious — have failed.
Moreno took a rocky road to Election Day. Reproductive rights in particular are a constant challenge for him. Moreno had to distance himself from the 100% pro-life, no-exceptions stance he took during his brief 2022 term, and then had to distance himself from the 15-week ban he supported in this year’s primaries after Trump tried to wash his hands of it problem. Moreno made his job more tough with gaffes on the campaign trail – particularly one in which he called it “kind of crazy” that older women based their votes on the candidate’s stance on abortion.
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