Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Bernie Moreno faults rival for distancing himself from Harris

LANCASTER, Ohio (AP) — Republican Bernie Moreno blasted Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown as he followed his campaign bus on its tour across Ohio Friday, accusing his rival of trying to distance himself from Vice President Kamala Harris despite many shared policy positions.

Speaking to about 75 people over coffee and doughnuts in the city of Lancaster, the Trump-endorsed Cleveland businessman said Brown’s intention not to campaign with Harris as she makes her bid for president flies in the face of the pair’s long-term political alliance. That included Harris visiting Ohio to raise money for Brown’s 2018 Senate campaign and musing during her truncated 2020 presidential campaign about making Brown her running mate.

This year, Moreno said, Brown is instead pitching himself to voters as if he’s a moderate, bipartisan Trump supporter.

“If Kamala Harris steps foot into Ohio, Sherrod Brown’s going to run into his basement and tell Connie (Schultz, his wife) not to answer the door,” Moreno said, to laughter.

Brown’s campaign said that he is supportive of Harris and her campaign.

“Sherrod is supporting her and is excited to see so many people engaged in the process,” campaign spokesperson Reeves Oyster said in an email. “He’s glad we’re having a conversation about the Dignity of Work and standing up for hard-working Americans.” The ”dignity of work” is a key Brown campaign theme.

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Since Brown last ran, the former bellwether state has tacked strongly to the right, departing from the national result in 2020 for the first time in half a century by supporting Republican Donald Trump for president by a wide margin. Moreno was critical at the time of Trump’s claims that the election was fraudulent, posting to social media that making such assertions without proof could do “potentially irreparable harm” to the country.

In the wake of the state’s political shift, Brown had already begun to distance himself from President Joe Biden’s administration even before Harris became the nominee. He did so by highlighting his work — including with the state’s junior senator, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance — on bipartisan bills and legislation he sponsored that Trump signed into law.

Brown — a third-term senator, former congressman and former Ohio secretary of state — is banking on his long record and strong name recognition to secure crossover votes in November. Moreno hasn’t previously held public office. He first ran for Senate in the 2022 race won by Vance, but dropped out at Trump’s behest.

Given the short time frame of this year’s presidential race, and Ohio’s current politics, it’s unlikely that Harris will make any campaign stops in the state.

Moreno told supporters Friday that the contrast between Republicans and Democrats this year couldn’t be clearer, particularly when it comes to immigration policy, the economy, energy and Social Security.

“This election is not like any other that we’ve had in American history,” he said.

Democrats have been following Moreno’s tour around the state to stage protests aimed at portraying him as an anti-worker “fat cat,” citing lawsuits over wages and overtime filed over the years against his businesses.

Moreno also asserted repeatedly at Friday’s event that he doesn’t expect his campaign to get fair treatment from journalists, saying the media “do everything in their power to twist the facts.”

Among other things, he took issue with media portrayals of Vance since the fellow Ohioan was selected as Trump’s running mate. He said Vance, known for his best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” is not “weird” — a label begun by Democrats that Moreno attributed to the press — but “the nicest, kindest human being with an incredible story.”

Laurie Groves, a local Republican who attended Friday’s event, said she feels the energy for Moreno rising and looks forward to helping boost his name recognition as the election nears.

“I own a business, and I very much like someone who’s owned businesses, who’s made it by the sweat of their brow and who knows what it’s like to work hard,” she said. “And I think that’s Bernie Moreno right there.”