Businessman Bernie Moreno hit Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) for his stance on immigration in an ad released Thursday and first shared with The Hill.
“Why is Bernie Moreno the only candidate endorsed by President Trump? Because Bernie is the only one who opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants. Frank LaRose supports amnesty and opposes deporting illegal immigrants,” a narrator says in the 30-second ad.
The ad turns to a clip of LaRose speaking at an Ohio Senate GOP forum held by the Republican Party of Medina County last fall, in which LaRose said, “You’re not going to round up 20 million people out of this country and ship them home. It’s not even logistically possible.”
Moreno is competing with LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan (R) in Ohio’s Republican primary in March. The winner will take on Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in November.
“Only Bernie Moreno will secure our border and stop amnesty. Trump endorsed conservative Bernie Marino for Senate,” the narrator ends the ad saying.
Moreno’s campaign told The Hill that the ad, part of a seven-figure buy, will air Thursday through the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Immigration has been a focal point in the Ohio Senate GOP primary. An Emerson College Polling survey of Ohio released earlier this month showed a close race between Moreno and LaRose, with 22 percent of Republican primary voters backing Moreno, 21 percent for LaRose and Dolan receiving 15 percent.
In hypothetical two-way match-ups with Brown and each of the Republican candidates, Dolan trails Brown by 1 point, while Moreno and LaRose trail Brown by 2 points.
During the October forum, Moreno accused LaRose of supporting amnesty during a discussion on immigration and argued that LaRose and Dolan would not be in favor of rounding up and deporting millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally.
“I didn’t say that,” LaRose pushed back. “And it’s not realistic to take 20 million consumers out of the economy, to take 20 million workers out of the economy. What I said is that if you came here illegally, you will never get United States citizenship, and you will never get government benefits.”
Moreno’s stance on immigration came into question during an Ohio Senate GOP candidate debate last month. A moderator asked Moreno about his support in 2016 of a pathway to residency for immigrants who entered the country illegally, including children.
“What’s changed is we’ve had 8.5 million people crossing into this country illegally over the last three years. We’ve seen this full-scale invasion of our border. I wasn’t somebody who was in public office back then,” he explained.