Mike Lee endorses ‘political outsider’ in highly competitive Ohio Senate race

Ohio businessman and 2024 Senate candidate Bernie Moreno received an endorsement from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on Tuesday, with the state’s primary election less than four months away.

Utah’s three-term GOP senator became the third high-profile Senate Republican to support Moreno, following endorsements from Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

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“Bernie Moreno is a successful businessman, a political outsider, and a strong constitutional conservative,” Lee said in a statement. “I am proud to join my colleague J.D. Vance in endorsing Bernie for the US Senate because we both know that we desperately need to elect more principled conservatives who have the courage to stand up to the establishment in both political parties. I’m confident that Bernie will do exactly that.”

Former President Donald Trump is also expected to endorse Moreno after writing on his social media platform Truth Social in April that he “would not be easy to beat,” calling Brown “one of the worst in the Senate.”

“I am beyond grateful to earn Senator Lee’s support in this race,” Moreno said in a statement. “Since his election to the Senate, he has been a tireless advocate for limited government, personal liberty and a foreign policy that puts America’s interests first and foremost. I am looking forward to joining him in the US Senate to defend our God-given Constitutional rights and to break up the power of the bipartisan swamp in Washington, DC.”

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Moreno is facing a three-way primary election to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan also vying to flip the critical Senate seat.

The wealthy Ohio business owner brought in over $4 million in the third quarter for his Senate bid, investing $3 million of his own funds and $1.1 million in fundraising, according to his campaign. Brown outraised his Republican opponents in the third quarter, bringing in $5.8 million, according to FEC filings. LaRose raised over $1 million, while Dolan raised $4 million, on par with Moreno.