Ohio Senate Race Gets Another GOP Contender in Entrepreneur Bernie Moreno

CINCINNATI, Ohio—On a stage in suburban Cincinnati, Cleveland entrepreneur Bernie Moreno told an enthusiastic crowd on April 18 why he decided to enter Ohio’s 2024 U.S. Senate race—after vying for former Sen. Rob Portman’s seat in 2022 before dropping out.

“Somehow, we’ve lost our way. And I think it started with a virus from China. And of course, I’m not talking about COVID. I’m talking about socialism and communism,” Moreno said.

“This is a battle of what type of world we want to live in. Do we want to live in the Chinese Communist Party’s view of the world with small groups of elites and faraway places get to tell us what to do? Or we’re going to recommit to the constitutional principles of self-governance. To me, that’s not a question.”

Moreno is the second candidate to enter the Republican primary, joining Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan, who also ran for Portman’s seat in 2022.

There are other potential candidates, including Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson.

Many Ohio conservatives believe the GOP can unseat Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, who first arrived in Washington as a congressman in 1992.

Ten of Ohio’s 15 congress members are Republicans. The state has a Republican governor, secretary of state, and attorney general. The state legislature has a Republican super-majority.

Vance defeated Ryan by 6.2 percentage points last November to fill Portman’s seat. Trump won Ohio by eight points in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

The Cook Political Report rates the Ohio 2024 U.S. Senate race as a toss-up.

Moreno was part of a crowded Republican primary in 2022 competing to replace Portman, who retired.

The race included seven candidates, all of whom favored Trump, except for Dolan.

Moreno spent millions of dollars of his own money to run TV commercials and build his name recognition, but he decided to end his campaign in February 2022 after a meeting with Trump.

“I asked for a private meeting with President Trump this afternoon to discuss the state of the Ohio Senate race. I am a businessman, not a politician. Business leaders recognize patterns before they happen.

“After talking to President Trump, we both agreed this race has too many Trump candidates and could cost the MAGA movement a conservative seat,” Moreno said.

After leaving the race, Moreno endorsed Vance, helped the now freshman senator raise funds, and even played the role of his opponent, Democrat U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, in debate preparations.

Vance defeated Ryan and took office as a freshman Senator in January.

When Moreno filed paperwork to run last week, Trump offered his support on Truth Social.

“Word is that Bernie Moreno, the highly respected businessman from the great state of Ohio, and the father-in-law of fantastic young Congressman, Max Miller, is thinking of running for the Senate,” Trump posted.

“He would not be easy to beat, especially against Brown, one of the worst in the Senate!”

On April 18, Moreno offered his support for Trump. He told the audience that he is “unapologetically pro-life,” that “I will defend our Second Amendment rights,” and that “I believe Donald Trump was the greatest president of our lifetime.”

“My current opponent in this race has already said … publicly that he may or may not support Trump if Trump’s the nominee,” Moreno said.

“He was attacked viciously and mercilessly for four years, unlike any person ever in American history. They’re not just attacking him; they’re attacking you.

“He’s the one who can solve the problem in Ukraine. Nobody else can,” Moreno added. “Ron DeSantis is a great governor of Florida, but we need Donald Trump back in the White House.”

When he campaigned in 2022, he appealed to many Ohio conservatives because of his compelling personal story.

When he was 5, Moreno boarded a plane for America with his mom, five brothers, and sister. Born in Colombia, he hailed from a country surrounded by the socialist ideology of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

“They promised to give everyone all they needed and solve all their problems. Now, we see the same threat rising here,” Moreno said. “Only in America could a young boy that legally immigrated to a new country run for the Senate.”

Moreno believes his story of legally immigrating to the United States, and his Latino heritage will allow him to combat attacks from the far left.

“The Democrats have this narrative that says Ohio is primarily made up of a bunch of white supremacists, racist hillbillies who hate every ethnic group in the world and are afraid of them.

“But wouldn’t it be something when they elect a senator to represent them in D.C. who was born in Colombia, South America, who had to learn English, who had to become a U.S. citizen? It breaks that narrative apart,” Moreno said.

Business Successes

Moreno attended the University of Michigan—where he met his wife Bridget—because of its proximity to Detroit and the automotive industry.

He started his career as a General Motors intern and eventually worked his way to vice president of a major New England auto dealer.

“He moved to Cleveland when he purchased a struggling Mercedes-Benz dealership on the city’s west side in 2005. Under Moreno’s leadership, the dealership became the largest volume Mercedes-Benz dealership in the Central United States.

Moreno formed the Bernie Moreno Companies and expanded his auto dealership portfolio to brands such as Premier AMG, Sprinter, Porsche, Infiniti, Aston Martin, Maserati, Rolls Royce, Buick, and GMC.

The Bernie Moreno Companies achieved $1 billion in annual sales before the founder began divesting his auto-dealership portfolio and reinventing himself and his business.

He spearheaded a new goal to transform Cleveland into a national epicenter for blockchain technology.

Moreno launched a campaign called “BlockLand” with the objective to make Cleveland a global center for blockchain technology and a hub for blockchain businesses and research.

Against Changing to ‘Guardians’

Dolan, an Ohio state senator whose family owns Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians, poured millions of dollars of his own money into advertising when he ran for Senate in 2022.

He surged in the final days of the Republican primary and finished third behind Vance and former Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel.

Trump chastised Dolan for his family’s role in changing Cleveland’s baseball team’s name from the Indians to the Guardians. Dolan is the son of Indians’ principal owner Larry Dolan and a cousin of Madison Square Garden chairman and CEO James Dolan.

In July 2021, the team announced that it would change its nickname from the Indians, which had graced the franchise since 1915, to the Guardians in recognition of statues that sit atop a bridge near Progressive Field and are known as the “Guardians of Traffic.”

“Anybody that changes the name of the once-storied Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians should not be running for the United States Senate representing the great people of Ohio,” Trump said in a statement after the announcement.

“The Atlanta Braves didn’t change their name, and the Florida State Seminoles didn’t change their chant, but Cleveland has and they were there first.

“Despite this, a man named Matt Dolan, the son of the owner of the team said he is against Cancel Culture. Do those two things really work together?” Trump asked.

“In any event, I know of at least one person in the race who I won’t be endorsing. The Republican Party has too man