Bernie Moreno will win the Republican Senate primary in Ohio, CNN projects, 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
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