Brown Cruises in Ohio’s Democratic Senate Primary as Republicans Wait for Results
Sen. Sherrod Brown, the only Democrat still holding statewide elective office in Ohio, was nominated for his Senate seat on Tuesday as three Republicans fought for the right to challenge the incumbent president in November.
The winner of the Republican slugfest between Bernie Moreno, a wealthy former car dealer with the support of former President Donald J. Trump, Senator Matt Dolan, whose family is the majority owner of the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, and Frank LaRose, the Ohio Secretary of State, will entering the general election penniless and bruised by the negative primary campaign.
But he will also be running in a state that Trump won in successive presidential elections in 2016 and 2020, each time by eight percentage points.
Mr. Brown, who was first elected to the Senate in 2006, showed little concern about his third reelection bid or about which Republicans would prevail in the primaries. The Democrat has built his reputation as a pro-labor politician who has spoken out against free trade deals and championed unions in a state where the working class has drifted toward the Republican Party since Barack Obama won it twice.
“We will spend this campaign contrasting my position on taking over Wall Street, my position on taking over the pharmaceutical companies and my position on trade with theirs,” he told reporters in Dayton, Ohio, on Monday.
With control of the Senate now within Republicans’ reach, Ohio and Montana — the only states where Trump won in 2020 and a Democrat is running for re-election — promise to draw enormous attention. Democrats have 51 seats in the Senate, but one of them, in deep-red West Virginia, has all but disappeared with the retirement of conservative Democrat Joe Manchin III.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with the Senate Republican leadership, and an allied group, American Crossroads, have earmarked nearly $83 million in ad time in Ohio this fall.
But Mr. Brown, whose fundraising has brought in money not only from unions steadfastly loyal to him but also from companies that do business for the Senate Banking Committee, which he chairs, will have his own firepower. His campaign has raised at least $26.7 million this election cycle and has $13.5 million cash on hand.
By contrast, Mr. Moreno and Mr. Dolan had each spent their war chests down to less than $2.4 million by the end of February. Mr. LaRose had less than $600,000.
On the Republican side, there has rarely been a primary that so clearly separated the old Republican establishment from the new Trump wing of the party. Mr. Dolan had the support of Ohio’s low-key Republican governor, Mike DeWine, and the recently retired moderate senator, Rob Portman. Mr. Moreno had Mr. Trump and was counting on the former president to provide another loyal foot soldier to the Senate.