Bernie Moreno, a businessman running for Ohio’s Republican Senate to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), announced some good news on Monday morning. A press release for his U.S. Senate campaign indicates he raised $2.2 million in the first quarter, with $1.3 million of that raised from other Ohioans.
“This is a record for the amount raised in the state during the first term of a U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio in a Republican primary,” the press release noted. “All dollars raised will go directly to the campaign and do not include the candidate’s personal funds.”
Record number of collections for Bernie! Ohioans are COMMITTED to taking back our country and retiring Sherrie Brown! #TeamMoreno pic.twitter.com/iZaRfYos56
— Team Moreno (@teammoreno2024) July 10, 2023
“I am grateful and honored by the outpouring of support for our campaign,” Moreno shared in a statement. “Ohioans are fed up with the same ancient stuff and the insider politics of Sherrod Brown and the Washington establishment. “I am proud to be an America First political outsider who can bring a message of conservative change to Washington.”
Moreno officially entered the race in April. Former and potentially future President Donald Trump encouraged him to run. Moreno’s daughter is the wife of Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), a freshman congressman whom Trump endorsed and who was an adviser to the former president.
He has already been endorsed by Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), who was elected just last November to replace retiring Senator Rob Portman, also a Republican. Others who supported Moreno include former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and Kash Patel. Moreno ran in the crowded 2022 Senate primary but dropped out in February. He then enthusiastically supported Vance, who won that race against then-Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH).
Kurt Schlichter also spoke favorably of Moreno in numerous columns, including his most recent one on Monday morning:
Ohio: Sherrod Brown is a strange communist idiot that my home state has inexplicably elected several times, even as it has become increasingly redder over the years. The idea of a younger, less masculine Bernie Sanders representing Ohio is a bizarre one, and this cycle it’s time to send him where the burnt-out Pinkos go. Trump won’t hurt the GOP here, but the impeachment issue will hurt Brown because Brown considers another Democrat to be sane for his crimes. I like Bernie Moreno here, but this is going to be an crucial primary because the GOP smells blood. This is a likely GOP victory.
Schlichter also praised Moreno in a March 13 column:
I like Bernie Moreno, the car dealership magnate who quit last time to pave the way for JD Vance. I met him at CPAC. He’s frigid. He has a seat. He and my wife were talking to each other in Spanish and I think they were talking bad about me. His pro-American dream program for immigrants is contagious – it’s real and difficult to fraudulent. This is another candidate in this normal/competent structure that voters want now. Yet there is no apply for communist nonsense. Cool.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the only 2022 secretary of state endorsed by Trump, has suggested he may enter the race. State Sen. Matt Dolan also announced his candidacy in January. Rep. Warren Davidson, once considered a potential candidate, made the announcement in slow May he was passing enter the race.
Ohio is widely considered one of the most crucial Senate races in 2024, and the cycle appears to be quite favorable for Republicans, at least on the Senate side. Axios report “The U.S. Senate race in Ohio is heating up,” also posted Monday morning, referred to Moreno’s campaign.
