Trump’s pick Bernie Moreno will win GOP primary in Ohio to take on Sen. Sherrod Brown

By Simone Pathe, CNN

(CNN) — Bernie Moreno will win the Republican Senate primary in Ohio, a victory for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who had endorsed the Cleveland businessman in the three-way contest.

Moreno will next take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in a fall election that will be crucial to deciding Senate control. As one of two Senate Democrats running for reelection in a state Trump twice carried, Brown is a top target for Republicans looking to pick up the one or two seats they need to flip the chamber, depending on who wins the White House.

“I want to thank President Trump for all he did for me, for this campaign, for his unwavering support, for his love of this country,” Moreno said at his campaign’s watch party in Cleveland shortly after he was projected the winner.

Tuesday’s GOP primary was this year’s first test of Trump’s clout in a contested Senate race. The former president backed Moreno in December at the urging of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, but his stamp of approval didn’t initially lock things up for Moreno in what became one of the most expensive races of the cycle so far. Trump made a last-minute trip to the state over the weekend to help his preferred candidate get over the finish line.

Moreno’s win is also a victory of sorts for Democrats, whose spending in the race suggested they viewed him as the weakest candidate against Brown. An outside group affiliated with Senate Democrats’ top super PAC ran ads propping him up over state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. “In Washington, Bernie Moreno would do Donald Trump’s bidding,” the ad said, touting the candidate as a “MAGA Republican” who is “too conservative for Ohio.”

Moreno dismissed Democrats’ attempts to tie him to Trump and sought instead to link Brown to President Joe Biden.

“Let me just say something, I wear with honor my endorsement … from President Trump. I wear that with a badge of honor,” the candidate said. “I will predict this: If Joe Biden enters Ohio, Sherrod Brown is gonna fly out of here like a scared cat.”

Brown, who was unopposed in his primary Tuesday as he bids for a fourth term in a state that’s been trending red, was quick to paint a contrast with his rival.

“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,” the senator said in a statement.

“Elections come down to whose side you’re on, and I’ll always work for Ohio,” Brown added.

The power of the Trump endorsement

Trump’s involvement in this race was noteworthy since national Republicans – who decided to get involved in primaries this year, in part to counter the kinds of candidates who emerged as flawed general election nominees in 2022 – stayed out of this primary. The conservative Club for Growth also supported Moreno, who was born in Colombia and made a fortune from car dealerships.

Montana Sen. Steve Daines, the chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, praised Moreno after his victory and offered his “full endorsement.”

Dolan, the other self-funding candidate in the race who finished third in the 2022 primary won by Vance, had the support of two prominent Ohio Republicans — Gov. Mike DeWine and former US Sen. Rob Portman — whose engagement underscored the split in the party between its Trumpian and more establishment wings.

Dolan, who was the only one of the three candidates who did not endorse Trump, argued that he was the more electable Republican because he could outperform Trump in the suburbs.

At Trump’s weekend rally, which was largely overshadowed by his controversial rhetoric about a “bloodbath” for the auto industry, the former president attacked Dolan as a RINO, or “Republican in Name Only,” and praised Moreno as a “political outsider.”

Moreno leaned heavily into his backing from Trump, with the former president omnipresent in his campaign’s advertising. “MAGA alert: President Trump wants you to vote for outsider businessman Bernie Moreno,” said one of the campaign’s final ads, which reminded voters just tuning in who had the most coveted endorsement in Republican primaries. “Trump endorsed Bernie Moreno for Senate.”

Moreno faced attacks from his opponents and their allies for previously holding more moderate policy positions. As CNN’s KFile reported earlier this year, he once said there was “no scenario” in which he would support Trump and called him a “fake Republican.”

But like Vance, who made it through the 2022 primary with the help of Trump, Moreno was able to weaponize his backing from the former president to quell any skepticism about his previous loyalty.

The willingness of Moreno and Dolan to pour millions of their own money into their campaigns put spending for this race at over $40 million as of Monday. Ohio’s Senate race trails only the US presidential race, the 2023 Kentucky governor’s race and California’s 2024 Senate race in total ad spending so far, excluding future reservations.

Moreno said Tuesday that he had spoken with Dolan, who had congratulated him on the race, while LaRose released a statement saying he had done the same.

“Now is the time to stand together as a party,” LaRose said. “We all share the same mission to retire Sherrod Brown and restore Ohio’s voice and values to the United States Senate. The stakes for this election couldn’t be higher.”

One of this fall’s top Senate races

Brown, who was first elected to the Senate in 2006 after seven terms in the US House, will face off against Moreno in a state that twice voted for Barack Obama before swinging to Trump in the next two presidential contests. The senator, who’s known as a progressive populist, is the last remaining Democrat in nonjudicial statewide office in the Buckeye State. He won his last race, against a weak challenger without national GOP backing, by 7 points in 2018.

Brown acknowledged Monday that this may be the most challenging contest of his career. “Sure,” the third-term incumbent told reporters in Dayton, “it may be my toughest race.”

The senator ended the pre-primary reporting period on February 28 with a cash-on-hand advantage – $13.5 million to Moreno’s $2.4 million. But if the primary is any indication, Moreno would be willing to pour his own resources into the race.

The outside money already laid down in Ohio shows just how competitive both parties are expecting it to be. Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC tied to Democratic leadership, has reserved $65 million for TV ads – by far the most of any of the seven states where it made early reservations. On the Republican side, Senate Leadership Fund and an affiliated group have booked about $80 million.

This story and headline have been updated.

CNN’s David Wright, Jeff Zeleny and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.

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