The three top Republicans fighting for their party’s nomination in the Ohio Senate race have turned on each other just weeks from a brutal primary instead of attacking vulnerable Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Car salesman Bernie Moreno, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and state Sen. Matt Dolan are neck and neck and have turned up the volume of attacks to 11 as they enter the final weeks of the race, which concludes March 19.
Moreno, who received former President Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement, attacked both rivals as anti-Trump clones of Nikki Haley in a new ad and claimed an outsider was needed to fix Washington, D.C. Moreno’s allies are also attacking Dolan over a gas tax increase that he supported five years ago.
Allies of LaRose are attacking Moreno back, with an ad of Moreno questioning whether “you really need 100 bullets” in a gun from 2019. Moreno has since changed his stance on guns and frames himself as a supporter of gun rights.
The new ad from Moreno has raised eyebrows from his challengers, who claim the latest attack proves he is not doing as well in the polls as he expected after Trump’s endorsement. Ohio is a largely pro-Trump state.
“If Bernie and his team thought they were really up 10 points, I think they would have taken a much different tack the last few days,” LaRose spokesman Rich Gorka told NBC News. “It’s up to the candidate to close. I know he was a good car salesman, but he’s obviously not closing with voters.”
A strategist for Dolan agreed that Moreno is crashing, but a spokesperson for Moreno insisted that voters are tired of politicians like LaRose and Dolan.
The race also turned vicious after Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) posted to X on Saturday that he would withhold support for projects from politicians that did not support Trump or his endorsed candidates. Vance also targeted LaRose specifically by flagging his support from a top Democratic donor after LaRose highlighted Moreno’s former stance on gun control.
Other experts have slammed the inner turmoil within the party as “counterproductive,” arguing that they needed to focus their attacks on Brown instead.
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“It’s incredibly stupid for operatives to attack a popular conservative U.S. senator in a Republican primary rather than their opponent,” former Vance strategist Jai Chabria said. “They are lucky you don’t need a license to do this work, because it would be revoked.”
The three challengers will meet for a final debate on Wednesday night. The winner of the primary will likely face Brown in November.
