Dems launch 11th-hour meddling operation in Ohio GOP Senate primary

Democrats are meddling in Ohio’s Senate GOP primary at the 11th hour to boost Bernie Moreno, the candidate former President Donald Trump endorsed to face vulnerable Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Duty and Country PAC, a group affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is spending over $2.5 million to air with a TV ad that heavily touts Moreno’s support from Trump and calls him “too conservative for Ohio.” It will begin airing on Thursday and is set to run through Tuesday’s primary.

The group is funded by Senate Majority PAC, the top Democratic outside group focused on Senate races. The apparent goal of the ad is to boost Moreno with GOP voters, and their interference in the race is a sign that they believe he would be the weakest candidate in the general election. Ohio, one of three Democratic-held seats up for election in states Trump won in 2020, is one of the most critical races to the Senate majority.

“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.

Moreno is in a crowded and competitive race with Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan.

The spot, which will air on broadcast and cable TV stations across the state, says Moreno would support a national abortion ban and a repeal of Obamacare. “Donald Trump needs Bernie Moreno. Ohio doesn’t.”

Polling shows a tight race for the primary. Dolan, the only one of the three candidates who did not seek Trump’s endorsement, topped an Emerson College survey released Wednesday. In recent days, he’s secured the endorsement of former Sen. Rob Portman and Gov. Mike DeWine.

Moreno has endorsements from Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

In a statement, Moreno campaign spokesperson Reagan McCarthy invoked Democrats' general feeling in 2016 that Trump would be the easiest candidate for Hillary Clinton to beat. "The same thing is going to happen to Sherrod Brown this year," McCarthy said.

Intervention in GOP primaries has become a popular Democratic tactic in recent years. In 2012, then-Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) famously boosted then-Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) through the primary and then defeated him in the general election.

More recently, Senate Majority PAC attacked GOP Senate candidate Chuck Morse in New Hampshire ahead of the 2022 primary, helping Don Bolduc, who struggled to raise money, capture the nomination. Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan beat Bolduc that November by 9 percentage points.

The New Hampshire involvement was part of a broader effort by national Democrats to help more controversial Republicans — many of whom had ties to Trump and had falsely refuted the 2020 election results — to win primaries to help Democratic prospects in the general election.