Trump-aligned businessman Bernie Moreno joins GOP fight for Ohio's 2024 U.S. Senate race
Haley BeMiller
Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno is angling for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat for the second time.
Moreno announced Tuesday that he'll vie for the chance to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024, making him the secondRepublican to enter the fray. The race is poised to draw another spirited GOP primary as Republicans try to unseat Brown, who's among the Democrats defending seats in states carried by former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Moreno ran for the Republican nomination in 2022, but he dropped out after a private meeting with Trump.
"I bring an outsider's perspective," Moreno told reporters at a restaurant outside Columbus. "I'm somebody who knows how to create jobs and build businesses. I know what government overreach does to businesses, and I'm also somebody who's not corrupted by the political system. I'm going to go to D.C. to actually fight these people."
Moreno joins state Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, who announced in January that he would run for the GOP nomination after placing third in last year's primary. Other potential candidates include Secretary of State Frank LaRose and U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy.
Moreno spent weeks laying the groundwork for his second Senate bid, and his impending announcement got Trump's attention − and approval − last week. Trump noted that Moreno's daughter married U.S. Rep. Max Miller, R-Rocky River, who worked for the former president before running for Congress.
"He would not be easy to beat, especially against Brown, one of the worst in the Senate!" Trump said.
Who is Bernie Moreno?
A luxury car dealer turned blockchain executive, Moreno has made a name for himself in the Cleveland area through various business ventures. He currently chairs the board for Dryver, which allows users to hire people to drive their own cars.
Moreno spent millions of dollars out of his own pocket to get his message across in the expensive 2022 primary. He invoked his personal experience moving from Colombia as he advocated for more stringent rules against undocumented immigrants. He blasted Democratic leaders and what he described as government overreach on public health, schools and more.
After his campaign ended, Moreno took over as Ohio chair for a national effort to impose congressional term limits.
Moreno already endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential race and criticized Republicans who won't commit to backing him if he's the nominee. His comments were a dig at Dolan, who has called on the GOP to move forward and stop running "campaigns of grievances."
Dolan recently penned a letter to county Republicans pledging to support the GOP presidential nominee “with everything I have." But he told CBS News in February that he would need to "take a long, hard look" if the nominee is campaigning on the issues of yesterday.
“The Republican 'slugfest' for Ohio's Senate seat is getting more crowded, chaotic and messy by the day," said Reeves Oyster, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. "With a year of nasty mud-slinging ahead, it's clear that whoever emerges from this primary will be bruised, battered, and out-of-touch with Ohioans' values."
Moreno disputed that view of the race and said Brown is cheering for a messy GOP primary.
"This race is going to be much simpler," he said. "I think it's going to be a two-person competition between one view of the Republican Party and a very different one."
Like U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who Trump endorsed in 2022, Moreno wasn't always an ally of the former president. Moreno initially backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the 2016 presidential race and referred to Trump as a "lunatic" in correspondence with the Republican National Committee, NBC News reported in 2021.
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.