Trump-endorsed Ohio senatorial candidate Bernie Moreno won the GOP primary and faces incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in the general election in November.
The New York Times reported on Sherrod Brown’s re-election chances, writing: “Ohio will almost certainly go for Donald Trump this November. The Democratic senator will need to defy the gravity of the presidential contest to win a fourth term.”
Brown’s colleague Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) responded to the Times article by calling Brown “brass knuckles in a rumpled suit” and asserting that “if anyone can hold a blue seat in red Ohio, it’s Sherrod Brown.”
Fetterman added: “He has the reputation, record, and fundraising. R’s better bring their A+ game.”
Brown is brass knuckles in a rumpled suit. If anyone can hold a seat in Ohio, it’s Sherrod Brown.
He has the reputation, record, and fundraising. R’s better bring their A+ game.
He’ll inspire our whole party and still be my chairman on the Banking Committee. pic.twitter.com/D3634Ulu2T
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) March 22, 2024
Besides the brass knuckles, the Democratic Party is counting on a belief that Moreno’s support from Donald Trump and his position on abortion (Moreno has described himself as “100% pro-life no exceptions”) will make the Republican less electable this fall.
[NOTE: The speculative idea that Trump’s support, while clearly valuable in many areas, could also hinder Moreno derives some of its credibility from the showing of Trump rival Nikki Haley who, despite having dropped out of the race, still won 14.4% of the vote in the Ohio GOP primary. ]
Doubling down on the notion of a vulnerable MAGA, a group funded by the Democratic-led Senate Majority PAC spent more than $2.5 million before the Ohio GOP primary to air a TV ad that touted Moreno’s Trump support and labeled him “too conservative for Ohio.” That ad — and its appeal to Trump voters — was designed not to hurt Moreno, but to help catapult him into the nomination, as Democrats calculate that Moreno may be easier for Brown to beat than the second-place primary finisher, state Senator Matt Dolan.
Note: East Carolina University‘s Center for Survey Research took a poll of Ohio voters before the primary and the results suggested that GOP-endorsed Dolan would have given Republicans “the best chance to unseat Sherrod Brown in the November general election.”