Bernie Moreno will face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the general election.
Trump-backed Bernie Moreno won Ohio’s Republican US Senate primary on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Moreno defeated state Senator Matt Dolan, a critic of the former president, and Secretary of State Frank LaRose; he will now go head-to-head against the Democratic incumbent, Senator Sherrod Brown.
The victory for the wealthy former car dealer, who has never held elected office, comes as the former president’s grip on the Senate tightens. Brown is one of the two Democrats (the other is Montana Democrat Jon Tester) running for reelection in red states. The two races will be pivotal in determining which party controls the Senate. Although Democrats hold the majority, 51-49, they will be defending two-thirds of the seats up for election this November.
Moreno, who has taken an anti-LGBTQ rights stance, was recently embroiled in controversy after the Associated Press reported that someone with access to his email created a 2008 profile seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex” on a website called Adult Friend Finder. Moreno’s lawyer told the AP that Moreno’s then intern, Dan Ricci, made the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”
At a campaign rally for Moreno last week, Trump — who opened his 2016 campaign declaring undocumented immigrants “rapists” — said some immigrants are “not people … these are animals.” During the same event, Moreno, a Colombian immigrant, demanded those who come to the country learn English and incorrectly claimed English is the national language.
“We don’t need to vote in five different languages. We learn the language,” Moreno — who called Trump a “lunatic invading the party” in 2016 — told the crowd of supporters. “It means you assimilate. You become part of America; America doesn’t become part of you.”
Along with the ex-president, Moreno was backed by other Trump allies including Sen. J.D. Vance — a former member of the Never Trump movement that changed his tuned after announcing his run for the Senate.
