Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, whose political career started when he was elected in Ohio in 1974 during President Gerald Ford’s presidency, saw his tenure come to an end when Trump-backed challenger Bernie Moreno was declared the winner in the most expensive non-presidential race in American history.
With 91 percent of the vote counted, the Associated Press called the race at 11:27 p.m. Moreno had 50.6 percent of the vote (2,667,385) percent of the vote compared to percent for 46 percent (2,428,433) for Brown.
Spending on the Brown–Moreno clash reached $500 million, eclipsing the $412 million spent on ads during Georgia’s 2020 Senate race between Jon Ossoff and David Perdue.
With Democrats holding a 51–49 voting advantage in the Senate, a number that includes four independents who lean Democrat, Republicans entered the general election hopeful they could regain majority control to complement a Trump victory.
Confident that West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice would win his Senate race to replace Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, Republicans poured millions of dollars into the Ohio battle. Democrats did the same to help Brown retain his seat.
Moreno’s Republican primary victory over state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose set the stage for a general election matchup featuring two candidates with stark differences in political experience.
Brown, 71, served in the Ohio state legislature from 1975 to 1982 before becoming Ohio’s secretary of state.
In 1991, he was elected to Congress as a U.S. Representative. In 2006, he defeated current Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to begin his tenure in the Senate.
This year, Brown was seeking his fourth term in that chamber.
Moreno withdrew from the 2022 Ohio Republican Senate primary and backed JD Vance, who prevailed in the primary and the general election.
Moreno’s family legally migrated from Colombia to the United States when he was 5, he told The Epoch Times. He started his career as a General Motors intern and eventually worked his way to vice president of a major New England auto dealer.
He moved to Cleveland when he purchased a struggling Mercedes-Benz dealership on the city’s west side in 2005. Under Moreno’s leadership, the dealership became the largest volume Mercedes-Benz dealership in the Central United States.
Moreno formed the Bernie Moreno Companies and expanded his auto dealership portfolio to brands such as Premier AMG, Sprinter, Porsche, Infiniti, Aston Martin, Maserati, Rolls Royce, Buick, and GMC.
He told The Epoch Times that he would serve in the Senate for no more than two terms (12 years). After leaving the 2022 Senate race, Moreno was named Ohio State Chair for U.S. Term Limits.
“Imagine that his entire adult life, he’s only collected a taxpayer-funded paycheck. He’s never once had to wonder where his next meal was gonna come from,” Moreno said, referring to Brown. “Who do you think said the following words in 1992 when I was just about finishing college? ‘If you’ve been in Washington, DC for more than 10 years, you’re a crook.’ Sherrod Brown said that, so at least one time, he has been right.”
Aside from former President Barack Obama, Brown is the only Democrat to win more than one statewide election in Ohio over the last 30 years.
As Democrat Tim Ryan did in 2022 when he ran against Vance, Brown centered his advertising and campaigning around a populist message designed to entice moderate Republicans.
He was endorsed by former Ohio Republican Gov. Bob Taft.
Moreno criticized Brown for his record of voting in line with President Joe Biden. Brown did not attend the Democratic National Convention and was one of the first senators who urged Biden to step away from the presidential race.
Brown repeatedly attacked Moreno about abortion.
The last time Brown appeared on the ballot during a presidential election year was when Obama ran in 2012. At the time, Ohio was a battleground state and Obama held six rallies in the final days of his campaign. Obama won Ohio in 2008 and 2012.
Since then, the political landscape has changed in the state. Trump won Ohio by eight points in 2016 and 2020. Vance, now Trump’s running mate, defeated Tim Ryan, a Democrat, in the 2022 Senate race. Ohio has a Republican governor, secretary of state, and attorney general.
Brown has developed his political identity around fighting for union workers and blue-collar Ohioans.
In ads and campaign stops, Brown has said he and Trump share some similar policy positions.
At a rally last March in suburban Dayton in support of Moreno, Trump said of Brown, “If you listen to his commercials, he sounds like he’s running with Trump. He’s not. He’s not with me.”
From The Epoch Times