In Ohio’s Republican Senate primary, Donald Trump and Democrats are pulling, albeit for different reasons, for beleaguered candidate Bernie Moreno, who was just hit with a critically timed political bombshell. The Associated Press reported on Thursday that, in 2008, Moreno’s work email address at his auto dealership was used to create an Adult Friend Finder account (a website usually used to find casual sex encounters) with the stated purpose reading, “looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling.” Notably, Moreno is married to a woman, and has built his campaign around opposing LGBTQ+ rights. He sought to explain away the account by providing a statement to the AP from a former intern who said he used his boss’s email address to create the account as “an aborted prank.” Moreno’s campaign also supplied a signed statement from the vice president of his company saying the intern had access to Moreno’s emails at the time of the incident.
That explanation wasn’t satisfactory in the eyes of some Republicans, according to Politico. Still, Trump says he remains committed to Moreno. Trump and his allies’ support for Moreno can be traced to the candidate’s self-proclaimed “America First principles.” “The left wing media is obsessed with destroying anyone who supports the America First movement,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Politico, “and this ridiculous slime job is simply more proof that Bernie Moreno is a threat to the entire swamp.” Trump is scheduled to headline a Saturday rally for Moreno in Dayton, Ohio. Joining the former president will be Ohio senator J.D. Vance, a first-term Republican and Trump loyalist; House Judiciary chairman and Ohio congressman Jim Jordan; South Dakota governor Kristi Noem; and Republican Senate hopeful Kari Lake.
Democrats believe that Moreno’s ties to Trump—not to mention his personal baggage—would make him the weakest challenger for incumbent Democratic senator Sherrod Brown. Indeed, Democrats spent millions of dollars on advertisements boosting Moreno even before the emergence of his Adult Friend Finder scandal. One television ad, funded by a PAC linked to Senate Democrats, sought to highlight Moreno’s Relationship with Trump and his hardline conservative beliefs. Although framed as an attack ad, the intended audience almost certainly was Republicans who reactively support anyone whom Trump likes and whom Democrats loathe. Democrats successfully executed the same strategy during the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election in 2022, when they helped elevate the far-right candidate Doug Mastriano, pegging him as the most beatable opponent for Democrat Josh Shapiro.
For Brown to hold onto his seat in Ohio, he may require a similarly weak opponent, as the state’s electorate has tilted significantly more to the right since his last election. Enter Moreno, the newly scandal-ridden auto dealer turned cryptocurrency investor and tech entrepreneur who has never served in elected office. His opponents in the state’s GOP primary include the far more established Frank LaRose, Ohio’s secretary of state, and Matt Dolan, a state senator who Ohio governor Mike DeWine and former Ohio senator Rob Portman have endorsed. Recent polling from Emerson College found that support for Moreno and Dolan was nearly even, with LaRose trailing in third place. However, 32% of respondents remained uncommitted.