Democratic group meddles in Ohio's GOP Senate race to boost the Trump-backed candidate

CLEVELAND — A Democratic group is airing a TV ad in Ohio’s hostile Republican Senate race emphasizing Bernie Moreno’s conservative positions and endorsement from Donald Trump — a move Moreno’s rivals see as an effort to influence the results of Tuesday’s primary.

“Moreno would lead the charge to enact Trump’s MAGA agenda to repeal Obamacare and institute a national ban on abortion,” the narrator says in the spot from Duty and Country PAC, which is affiliated with Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC with ties to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

“Donald Trump needs Bernie Moreno,” the narrator concludes. “Bernie Moreno does not.”

AdImpact, a firm that tracks political ad spending across the country, first captured the 30-second ad Thursday morning on a local CBS station in Toledo. Duty and Country PAC has $2.7 million in ad spending reserved from Thursday through next week’s primary.

Ohio’s Senate race is expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive in the country this fall, with Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown seeking re-election in a state Trump won twice by 8 points.

The GOP primary is ending on a particularly tense and nasty note. Moreno, a businessman, is facing an aggressive challenge from state Sen. Matt Dolan, who has spent millions of his own dollars. Trump is scheduled to hold a rally for Moreno on Saturday night near Dayton, while Dolan has scored late endorsements from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and former Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is also running for the Republican nomination.

“Seen those ads supporting Bernie Moreno? Know who is paying for them? It’s Chuck Schumer,” Dolan posted Thursday on X. “Schumer just got CAUGHT meddling in our primary because he wants the weakest opponent for Sherrod Brown. Enough is enough.”

LaRose took a similar tack.

“Chuck Schumer is funding pro-Moreno ads because he knows Bernie’s background makes him the weakest candidate to face Sherrod Brown,” LaRose wrote in an X post late Wednesday. “The more Ohioans learn about Moreno, the less they trust him.”

The content of the Duty and Country ad, first reported on by Politico, frames Moreno’s credentials as a negative at the beginning and the end but otherwise scans as a highlight reel that could appeal to right-leaning voters in the three-way primary. The meddling strategy has become increasingly common in campaigns, especially by Democrats seeking to draw a more favorable general election matchup.

Then-Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who was vulnerable in her 2012 re-election campaign, famously ran ads to elevate Todd Akin, a weaker candidate, in the GOP primary. Akin won the nomination, but his campaign later imploded after inflammatory comments about “legitimate rape” and abortion rights.

More recently, Democrat Josh Shapiro aired an ad spotlighting the conservative credentials of Republican Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania’s 2022 GOP primary for governor. Mastriano won the nomination, and Shapiro beat him easily in the general election.

“National Democrats are putting millions of dollars behind Bernie Moreno in the waning days of this primary because he is damaged, unelectable and incapable of defeating Sherrod Brown,” Chris Maloney, a Dolan strategist, told NBC News. “Ohio voters will see through Chuck Schumer’s deception and reject this attempt by Sherrod Brown’s allies to meddle in the primary.”

"When Ohio voters head to their polling place they deserve to know the truth about Bernie Moreno — and the truth is that Moreno is a MAGA extremist who embraced Donald Trump just like he embraced his policies to ban abortion nationwide and repeal the ACA," Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Hannah Menchhoff said in a statement.

Reagan McCarthy, a spokesperson for Moreno’s campaign, suggested that Democrats should be careful what they wish for, noting how many thought Trump would be the easiest Republican for Hillary Clinton to beat in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton lost.

“The same thing,” McCarthy said, “is going to happen to Sherrod Brown this year.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com