Ohio’s Senate race is one of a few competitive seats that Democrats desperately need to hang on to if they wish to keep the chamber majority. Ohio, once a valued swing state, is turning reliably red and Democrats like Brown are facing tough opposition — particularly as Republican incumbents and candidates are earning a boost from former President Donald Trump’s name at the top of the ticket this cycle.

This November, the pressure is on Moreno to flip the state’s senior Senate seat red for the first time since Brown was elected in 2007. The Democratic incumbent’s decades in Congress is one of the reasons Moreno is running for office, the Republican told the Washington Examiner in an interview. 

Moreno, a young GOP star who rose to prominence in the state as a car dealership owner, believes his business experience promises a brighter future for Ohio.

He plans to do many things differently than Brown, he said — including retiring after two terms. In his mind, business leaders have an obligation to go to Capitol Hill, “serve, and then come home.”

“I’m not going there to create wealth or to build a career or have a job because I can’t get a job somewhere else, like my opponent,” Moreno said. “I’m going to come home if I have the honor of being elected after two terms because I don’t believe that people should be in D.C. forever.”

The Republican said Brown will appeal to the working class with promises but is “looking over his shoulder, winking, to Washington, D.C.”

“I think what’s breaking Sherrod Brown this cycle is that people have seen the wink,” Moreno added. “They’ve been hoodwinked too long. They realize that it’s just not real because they see the results. He’s made life worse for them, not better.”

Pressure on both Senate candidates to deliver for their parties

Since Trump came on to the scene, it’s become exceedingly rare for red-state Democrats to hold on to their seats. In 2018, now-Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) defeated incumbent Claire McCaskill who served since 2007. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) defeated former Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in 2018, as well. This cycle, incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is looking at defeat after holding the seat since 2007.

Trump won Ohio by roughly 8 points in 2016 and 2020, with strategists anticipating a double-digit win for the former president in 2024. Ohio Republican candidates are dependent on Trump’s coattails, as Moreno faces a daunting task to flip the Senate seat and win the GOP the majority. On the other side, eyes are on Brown to see if he can hold out in a state that backs Trump.

The Cook Political Report rates the Ohio Senate race as a “toss-up,” with FiveThirtyEight polling showing Democrats with a +2 advantage. A recent internal survey from the National Republican Senatorial Committee found the two candidates locked in a tie, a change from April and August when Brown was leading by 7 points and 4 points, respectively.

Trump’s selection of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), whose hometown is Middletown, Ohio, as his vice presidential running mate has strategists believing it could rally Republican voters who were not planning to vote this year to cast a ballot for Moreno.

“Even though it’s likely to be a safe win, because [Republican voters] want to go exercise their right to vote for our U.S. senator, for vice president, and that has a positive effect on Bernie Moreno and some of these congressional races,” Matt Dole, GOP Ohio strategist, told the Washington Examiner.

Moreno faces an uphill battle to oust Brown, who has a three-term Senate record on which to campaign. However, the Republican blasted the senator for having a “fake persona” and never holding a job, pointing to Brown’s Yale University degree in Russian Studies.

“How does he know about the dignity of work? He’s actually never done it,” Moreno said.

Brown also received a master’s in education from the Ohio State University and taught at the school’s Mansfield branch from 1979 to 1981. Brown began his political career in 1974 as an Ohio state representative and held that position until he became Ohio secretary of state in 1986. 

The only time Brown lost was his 1990 reelection for the secretary of state to Republican Bob Taft. Brown later became a U.S. House representative in 1992, being reelected six times before winning the 2006 Senate race.

Abortion and immigration are focal points of the Ohio Senate race

Abortion has a major influence in the Ohio Senate race, which has drawn the most spending than any other 2024 contest in the country. Brown’s campaign has hit Moreno with several attack ads and campaign releases over reproductive rights, particularly in recent days after Moreno drew ire for a comment he made criticizing women whose votes were driven by government involvement in abortion during a town hall in September. 

“Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it,’” Moreno said at a town hall in Warren County on Sept. 20. ”’If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.’ OK. It’s a little crazy, by the way, but — especially for women who are like past 50, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”

Brown and his Democratic allies swiftly criticized the comment, while Moreno’s campaign has stressed that the economy and immigration are bigger priorities for the race. The Democratic senator said he voted for and supported last year’s ballot measure that enshrines a right to an abortion in the Ohio constitution. 

“The people of Ohio think women should have the power to make their own health care decisions, Bernie Moreno thinks he should,” Brown said in a statement to the Associated Press. “As a man over the age of 50, I care deeply about a woman’s right to make health care decisions for herself — for my daughters, my granddaughters, and all Ohio women, regardless of their age.”

However, recognizing that abortion is a top 2024 voter concern, Moreno is trying to paint Brown as too extreme for conservative-trending Ohio — particularly with independent or undecided voters, where policies like abortion or the economy could make or break a toss-up race. 

“Sherrod Brown’s an absolute extremist on this issue of abortion,” Moreno said, pointing to the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill that Brown voted against. The Republican argued the legislation allows doctors to refuse to give life-saving care to a baby who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.

“That’s just cruel and inhumane,” Moreno said. “And I think most independent voters in Ohio will look at that and go, ‘Well, that’s that seems completely unreasonable.’”

On the subject of reproductive rights, Moreno said he’d focus his efforts on “the things that we can agree on,” such as equal access to contraception and improving child care costs.

“I have two daughters, and the most influential person in my life is my mother,” Moreno said. “Somebody’s going to always advocate for women and make sure that that that women are protected the way I just discussed.”

The Republican also noted that immigration and the southern border crisis will be his top priority in the Senate. As a legal immigrant from Columbia, he said he’ll have “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration. 

Crossings at the southern border are one of Republicans’ top campaign issues for the 2024 election, with national and Ohio GOP members looking to tie Brown to the Biden-Harris administration’s border policies.

“I’m a legal immigrant to this country, and I can tell you, every single legal immigrant I’ve ever talked to believes the same things I do,” Moreno said.

Voters praise Brown’s years of service and share concerns with Moreno business scandals

Voters across Ohio are lining up at their county’s board of elections to cast their early votes. As expected in Columbus, a blue-leaning city, many Democratic voters were quick to strike down Moreno as untrustworthy and praised Brown for his years of service.

“Moreno just doesn’t seem the type of person that is trustworthy,” Jennifer Henderson Thomas, a Democrat from the city, said. “No, there’s just a lot I think that he’s done, he seems like a crook, and that’s not what Columbus needs.”

Cristina De los Santos, a Democrat, of Columbus, said abortion was a driving factor for her to choose Brown over Moreno.

“I don’t believe that the right to choose and the right to have affordable, adequate health care for women in the cities and towns that they live in — it should be a right, not a choice,” De los Santos said.

De los Santos added that she thinks the Republican Party’s goal is to “divide and conquer,” while she views Democrats as the party that wants to meet in the middle.

“There’s things that the Republican Party does that I don’t necessarily disagree with,” De los Santos said. “I think the approach sucks, but I think that from the Republican Party, I think what we see a lot more is just that divisive tone and attacking behavior.”

Tom Shepherd, a Democrat from Columbus, said Brown is a “good person” and spoke to larger fears of a Moreno victory.

“I think he will fall in line with whatever Donald Trump wants to do, whether he’s president or not,” Shepherd said. “I think that’s dangerous.”

On the other side, voter Danielle Carr, a Republican, said she voted for Moreno and Trump. When asked why, she said the Senate race was not something she was “well-versed on” but she voted down the ticket for the GOP because of Trump’s stance on the economy.

“My concern for women in sports, [Trump’s] economic plan just seems like it’s going to have a lot more benefit for everyday people,” Carr said. “Those are the biggest issues for me.”

Republican community members in Delaware County praised Moreno for his business experience, with some arguing it gives him an edge over Brown with working class voters.

“Bernie is a great capitalist, and Bernie understands how business works,” said Dan Unger, a Republican from Cinncinatti. “And his opponent, Sherrod Brown, has never worked in the private sector, so I don’t think he understands how economics I don’t think Sherrod Brown understands how business works.”

Not all GOP voters are completely sold on Moreno, despite casting a ballot for him. David Kulp, a longtime Republican from the Columbus area, said he voted for the Republican Senate candidate “with great reluctance.” 

“You hear the stories of the non-paid overtime from his previous companies,” Kulp said. “It’s a serious red flag. But yet, Sherrod Brown’s been there for so long, and he does nothing but vote for the liberal policies.”

“I’m just taking my chances,” Kulp added.

Kulp’s mention of non-paid overtime refers to several employment lawsuits filed against Moreno in his capacity as a dealership owner in Ohio and in Massachusetts. Many former employees accused Moreno of wage theft and workplace discrimination, with one case arguing that Moreno withheld time-and-a-half pay, despite employees’ work period amounting to over 40 hours a week. 

That case relied largely on a destruction of evidence claim, per the Ohio Capital Journal. The court ruled he needed to preserve overtime documents, but in a deposition, Moreno acknowledged receiving monthly overtime reports that were later destroyed.

The overtime issue is also why Byron Dawkins, a Democrat, voted for Brown instead of Moreno.

“Brown’s been there the last 30 years, and Moreno’s just out for himself,” Dawkins said. “I mean, he cheated his people out of money. And, man, that didn’t go well with me.”

Brown is campaigning on the overtime lawsuits.

“Ohioans know Sherrod fights for them – from saving the pensions of 100,000 Ohioans to working with Republicans to pass legislation to keep fentanyl out of Ohio,” a campaign spokesperson for Brown said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “While Sherrod works for Ohioans, Bernie Moreno can’t be trusted and only looks out for himself – from screwing his workers out of the overtime pay they earned and deliberately shredding evidence a judge ordered him to keep to try to get away with it, to selling Chinese-made cars that hurt Ohio auto workers, to supporting a national abortion ban.” 

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Moreno pressed that his business has produced great results for the community, noting that he gave away millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations and helped 455 students complete their education at Ohio community colleges. He said he would track businesses to Ohio that would create “good, high-paying jobs in the state.

“I know that I can meet with CEOs,” Moreno said. “They’ll take my meeting. They understand that I speak their language, and I’ll convince them to build and grow here in Ohio because that’s what I do. Sherrod Brown does the exact opposite.”