EXCLUSIVE — Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno is out with a new campaign ad highlighting the praise he’s received from former President Donald Trump as he vies to oust Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) next year.
The newly released ad, which will begin airing statewide on Tuesday, ticks through the support he’s received from prominent conservatives such as Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), Kari Lake, and Charlie Kirk. But it bookends that support with references to the former president, using Trump’s own comments as a voice-over and touting Moreno’s early endorsement of his White House bid.
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“Conservatives across the country are backing Bernie,” states the ad, which was first shared with the Washington Examiner. “It’s because they know Bernie as an outsider businessman who will never stop fighting to put America first.”
Moreno has garnered a number of endorsements in Trumpworld as he seeks a challenge to Brown in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races of the 2024 cycle. But first, Moreno faces a fierce Republican primary in a state the former president won by 8 points in 2020.
In the ad, he highlights Trump’s remark that “We love Ohio and we love Bernie Moreno.” Trump has not endorsed in the race, but Moreno is believed to be a front-runner for that endorsement should the former president decide to weigh in.
Moreno faces two major opponents in the GOP primary: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan. Moreno briefly faced off against Dolan in the 2022 midterm elections, a race that ultimately went to Vance, who defeated former
Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan and handed Republicans one of their few Senate victories of the cycle.
LaRose is also vying for Trump’s endorsement, while Dolan has chosen not to.
The Ohio Senate race is only one of three races to be rated as a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report. Brown first flipped the seat blue in 2006, and he is today a rare example of a Democrat holding statewide office in Ohio.
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There are 34 Senate seats up for grabs in the 2024 election cycle. Of these, Democrats must defend 23, compared to just 11 for Republicans, putting the GOP in a strong position to flip crucial Senate seats that could easily shift the balance of power in the upper chamber.
Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, with the advantage of having Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker vote if needed. As a result, Republicans only need to flip one Senate seat to win the majority should they win back the White House in 2024. If they don’t regain the Oval Office, the party needs to secure two extra Senate seats.
