Trump administration alumni Kellyanne Conway and Richard Grenell joined the team of Bernie Moreno in Ohio’s Republican primary, which is expected to be centered around which candidate is closest to former President Donald Trump.
Moreno, a Colombian immigrant who has worked as a luxury car dealer out of Cleveland and a tech entrepreneur, enters the race in which there are already several high-profile Republican challengers from across the state.
“Bernie’s not a politician. He is a conservative, a political outsider and a successful businessman just like President Donald J. Trump,” Conway said in a statement, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Conway, a GOP political consultant and pollster, led Trump to victory in the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign. She then served as senior counselor in the Trump White House from January 2017 to the end of August 2020.
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Grenell, a Trump administration alumnus who served as an ambassador and the former acting director of national intelligence, will be chairman of the candidate’s steering committee.
The news comes after NBC News reported that Moreno, 54, criticized Trump in 2016 emails in which he referred to him as a “lunatic” and a “maniac.”
In the emails, Moreno also reportedly said he would stop donating to the national Republican Party if Trump was elected president.
In Ohio, which Trump won in 2016 and 2020, the former president’s influence will likely play a significant role in the primary, and an endorsement from Trump would be a major boost to any candidate who gets it.
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Moreno, who has been vying for that endorsement, was one of four GOP Senate hopefuls who attended a Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump in March.
“I would be honored to have Donald Trump’s endorsement,” Moreno said. “He’s the leader of the Republican Party. He’s very popular in the Republican Party. He’s very popular in Ohio.”
