Trump endorses Bernie Moreno in Ohio Senate race

Former President Trump formally threw his support behind ally Bernie Moreno on Tuesday in the closely watched Ohio Senate GOP primary.

“It’s time for the entire Republican Party to UNITE around Bernie’s campaign for Senate, so that we can have a BIG victory in what will be the most important Election in American History,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

Moreno, a vocal supporter of the former president, is competing against a number of other high-profile Republicans for the party’s nomination as the GOP looks to flip the seat held by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D).

The stakes in the Republican primary are high, as Ohio is a conservative-leaning state seen as crucial for the party’s efforts to regain control of the upper chamber. Some Republicans blamed the party’s worse-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterms on Trump’s influence in their party’s primaries.

Trump’s endorsement gives businessman Moreno a major boost against rivals Frank LaRose, who serves as Ohio’s secretary of state, and state Sen. Matt Dolan.

His backing is not a surprise: Moreno has frequently touted his support for Trump, including in a recent ad where he embraced the “America First” slogan and also referenced support from Trump allies such as Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake.

But Trump’s endorsement also comes as some polling shows Moreno trailing Brown by wider margins than his other GOP rivals in a hypothetical match-up.

An Emerson College Polling/WJW-TV Fox 8 Cleveland poll released last month found Moreno falling significantly behind Brown, 42 percent to 32 percent. Brown also led the other Republicans, but by smaller margins, coming in at 41 percent to 38 percent against Dolan and 41 percent to 36 percent against LaRose.