By JULIE CARR SMYTH (Associated Press)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former President Donald Trump saw success in high-profile Ohio elections on Tuesday. The outcome of these elections could impact the Republicans' chances of gaining crucial seats and increasing their influence in Washington this fall.
In the intense primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, Trump-backed Bernie Moreno defeated state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. In northwest Ohio, state Rep. Derek Merrin won over former state Rep. Craig Riedel after receiving Trump's endorsement. Merrin will face long-serving U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the upcoming general election.
Both Brown and Kaptur are considered to be among the most vulnerable Democrats this year, given Ohio's recent shift towards the political right. These races have attracted significant attention from national party leaders, with Democrats holding a slim voting majority in the Senate and Republicans having a narrow margin in the U.S. House.
During his acceptance speech in Cleveland, Moreno praised Trump and also acknowledged Dolan and LaRose for their well-run campaigns. He urged the party to unite in defeating Brown.
Moreno told a cheering crowd, “We have an opportunity now to retire the old commie, and send him to a retirement home and save this country, because that’s what we’re going to do.”
He referred to Brown as President Joe Biden’s “absolute enabler” in the Senate and liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s “lapdog.”
In response to the news, Brown stated, “The choice ahead of Ohio is clear: Bernie Moreno has spent his career and campaign putting himself first, and would do the same if elected. I’ll always work for Ohio.”
The upcoming general election is anticipated to be fiercely contested in a state that has leaned towards the Republican Party in recent years. With Democrats holding a fragile 51-49 voting majority in the Senate and defending more seats than Republicans, Brown’s seat is a key target for the GOP. He is the only Democrat holding a non-judicial statewide office in Ohio, a state that has shifted rightward during the Trump era.
In a move that received criticism from both sides, Senate Majority PAC, an independent group aligned with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, spent $2.7 million to boost Moreno’s primary campaign, aiming to position him as the weakest candidate against Brown in the fall.
Brown is expected to heavily emphasize abortion rights in his campaign. Following the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, Ohioans widely supported a state constitutional amendment last year to safeguard access to the procedure.
Moreno, a former luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, faced controversy late in the campaign.
Reports from the Associated Press revealed that in 2008, someone using Moreno's work email account created a profile on an adult website seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex.” The AP could not definitively confirm that it was created by Moreno himself. Moreno’s lawyer stated that a former intern, Dan Ricci, created the account as a “part of a juvenile prank.”
There have been questions about Moreno's profile in GOP circles for the past month, which has caused frustration among senior Republican operatives. Seven people who are familiar with discussions about how to handle the issue have asked to remain anonymous to avoid upsetting Trump and his allies.
Moreno, who is from Bogota, Colombia, funded part of his own campaign and won by presenting himself as a political outsider, promising to shake things up in Washington, similar to Trump. He and allied political action committees criticized Dolan and LaRose as 'career politicians.'
As LaRose struggled to find support after failing to win Trump's endorsement, Dolan worked to gather the party's non-Trump faction in his corner leading up to Election Day. He received endorsements from Gov. Mike DeWine and former U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, two of Ohio's most prominent establishment Republicans.
In his concession speech on Tuesday, Dolan described not winning as a 'gut punch' but thanked Portman and DeWine for their support.
Dolan expressed disappointment at his loss, but also took pride in the endorsements of Rob Portman and Mike DeWine.
LaRose, a former state senator and Green Beret elected twice statewide, received more grassroots donations of $200 or less than his rivals. He loaned himself $250,000, compared to $4.2 million from Moreno and $9 million from Dolan.
He acknowledged that the campaign was challenging from the start, but emphasized that he doesn't back down from a challenge and has no regrets about putting effort into the fight.
Both Moreno and Dolan ran in the 2022 Senate race, which was won by Trump-backed memoirist and venture capitalist JD Vance. Moreno dropped out at Trump's request while Dolan finished third.
In Ohio's 9th Congressional District, Trump's endorsement of Merrin on Monday was the final development in a tumultuous contest. The race included quick entries and exits, candidate mistakes, and shifting endorsements. At one point, Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Rep. Jim Jordan were aligned with three competing campaigns.
The race in Ohio's 9th Congressional District was unsettled until Trump-aligned candidate J.R. Majewski, who lost to Kaptur in 2022, withdrew from the race earlier this month after facing criticism for remarks about Special Olympics athletes.
This left three candidates in the race: Merrin, backed by Johnson and Trump; Riedel, backed by Jordan; and former Napoleon Mayor Steve Lankenau.
Merrin, 37, is a term-limited fourth-term state representative who led an intraparty rebellion in the Ohio House last year after a heated battle for speaker. He joined the congressional race after audio emerged of Riedel criticizing Trump, which raised concerns within the party about Riedel's ability to win.
Riedel, 57, was one of the candidates who did not get the nomination to Majewski in 2022. He collected over $1.1 million before the primary, the most of any candidate and about 10 times more than Merrin. However, Merrin received support from national Republicans, with the Congressional Leadership Fund spending over $750,000 on his behalf.
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