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New York Magazine: “Moreno And Dolan Have Begun Going After Each Other With Tire Irons”

Columbus, OH – After months of the #OHSEN field “slugging it out in Ohio’s costly and contentious Republican primary,” this “nasty” and “increasingly personal” brawl means that whoever emerges will face an “uphill climb” entering the general election. 

Read what they’re saying today about this “ugly” primary that’s “devolving by the hour:” 

• Statehouse News Bureau: “Final weekend of Republican U.S. Senate race in Ohio is busy, bitter and brought out big bucks…”

• Statehouse News Bureau: “The race among three men fighting for the Republican nomination to run against Ohio’s incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown this fall got increasingly bitter over the last few days.”

• Roll Call: “[An Ohio voter] said he’s troubled by the increasingly bitter tenor of the race, which is playing out on the campaign trail and on the airwaves in ads funded by the candidates and a bevy of super PACs. ‘It’s been a pretty dirty campaign and that concerns me,’ he said. ‘They’re so busy digging at each other that they haven’t taken the time to express their views on the issues.’” 

• Roll Call: “In the waning days of the campaign, ads by the candidates and their supporters have grown increasingly personal…”

• Rollcall: “Rich candidates and super PACs hurl attacks…slugging it out in Ohio’s costly and contentious Republican primary…”

• New York Magazine: Nasty Ohio GOP Primary Could Hurt Party’s Odds of Flipping Senate

• New York Magazine: “Moreno and Dolan have begun going after each other with tire irons…”

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NBC: “Ohio’s GOP Senate Primary Ends On A Vicious Note”

Columbus, OH – The “increasingly personal” #OHSEN Slugfest is “end[ing] on a vicious note,” which even Republicans note will leave whoever emerges from tomorrow’s primary “significantly weakened,” with “bruises to show for it,” “lasting damage,” and with an “uphill climb” entering the general election. 

Read what they’re saying about this “ugly” primary that’s “getting nastier by the day” and “devolving by the hour:” 

• WVXU: “Whoever wins the GOP primary will have an uphill climb.”

• The Enquirer:  “While Tuesday’s primary is anyone’s ballgame, the sparring guarantees one outcome: Whoever wins will enter the general election against Brown with bruises to show for it.”

• Politico:“The Republican Senate primary in Ohio has turned nasty, negative and chaotic… has become an all-out brawl in the final leg of the race.”

• HuffPost:“Few if any Republican primaries this year are turning out to be as competitive as Ohio’s deadlocked three-way race on Tuesday”

• Washington Post:“In the final days before Ohio Republicans cast their votes to select a Senate candidate to challenge incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), political jabs in the GOP race have gotten increasingly personal.”

• Politico:“…the Buckeye State is home to a bruising intraparty fight, one that Republicans worry could produce lasting damage to the eventual nominee and threaten their chances…”

• Business Insider: “Yet the chaotic three-way race — in which Moreno, Dolan, and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose have lobbed insults at one another for months — has also raised the possibility that whoever emerges from the primary will be significantly weakened in the general election.”

• Politico: “‘It’s pretty ugly. Unfortunately, we’re at a phase where there’s a lot of negative advertising. I think, obviously, that will eventually harm the nominee,’ said Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). ‘The more negative dollars you spend attacking each other, the more it makes it harder.’”

• The Enquirer: “Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate primary is heading for a brutal finale… in a race that became more vicious by the day.”

• HuffPost: “The interplay has gotten nasty and personal, with the campaigns swiping at each other…”

• NBC News: “Ohio’s Republican Senate primary was already a mean-spirited and mudslinging affair, careening viciously toward a tight and bitter finish.”

• Politico: “The final days of the three-way Republican primary to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has devolved into a messy brawl.”

• Washington Post: “The fight between Moreno, Dolan and LaRose has been personal and dirty…”​​

• Politico: “…the bloodbath has arrived… As the primary enters its most brutal phase, the frustration is palpable… it’s hard to keep track of the attacks.. outbreak of fighting… the internecine mudslinging”

• New York Times: “With just days to go before the election, the three-way Republican Senate primary in Ohio has turned into a food fight…”

• The Hill: “The battle to become the Senate GOP’s nominee in Ohio against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) is getting nastier by the day… a three-way brawl”

• Washington Examiner: “As the Ohio GOP Senate primary approaches, the contest is becoming increasingly contentious…”

• Politico: “The airwaves are swamped with negative disses… And the attacks clearly rattle their various targets.”

• Washington Post: “The Ohio Senate primary…has been exceptionally ugly.”

• Columbus Dispatch:“Trump’s visit added gasoline to a primary contest that’s heated up in recent weeks… the candidates are locked in a tight battle as the race nears its end…”

• Washington Post: “The final weekend of campaigning has culminated in personal attacks representative of the past several months of bitter campaigning.”

• NBC:“…millions of dollars flooding the Buckeye State’s airwaves and nasty attacks among the candidates escalating.”

• The Enquirer: “Ads fan flames as Ohio primary approaches ends… Spending for the primary surpassed $48 million as of Friday, according to AdImpact, with groups unleashing a torrent of ads over the past week alone.”

• NBC:“…the race has turned increasingly hostile as it remains in a competitive haze… Sniping among the candidates’ advisers and allies has grown especially vicious”

• Politico:“an increasingly vicious Senate GOP contest…a heated three-way brawl…a primary that’s turned into a barroom brawl…”

• CNN: “…messy, contested, three-way primary”

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Columbus, OH – After months of a “nasty,” “expensive,” “increasingly vicious” #OHSEN Slugfest, this “bloodbath” of a primary has made one thing clear: none of the candidates are fighting for Ohio.

“Everyone in this race has been more focused on fighting each other than fighting for Ohioans. No matter which untested rich guy makes it through this expensive slugfest, they’ll enter the general election damaged, with substantial baggage that makes clear they will not put Ohio first,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith.

What you need to know about the field:

• All three candidates support a national abortion ban which would overturn the will of Ohioans who overwhelmingly voted to protect reproductive rights last November. 

• All three candidates opposed the bipartisan border security bill – which was backed by border patrol agents – that would have helped secure the southern border and protect Ohioans by providing additional manpower at the border, expanding resources for border patrol agents, and cracking down on fentanyl coming from China and Mexico. 

• All three candidates “are willing to repeal” the Affordable Care Act.

• All three candidates are wealthy, out-of-touch, and using their massive personal fortunes, money from out-of-state billionaires, and parents’ cash to try to buy Ohio’s Senate seat. 

Three things to know about Bernie Moreno:

1. Bernie Moreno refused to pay his employees the overtime they’d earned. Moreno refused to pay his employees the overtime they’d earned, deliberately shredded evidence he was legally required to keep to get out of paying them, and was found liable for wage theft by a jury – forcing Moreno to pay over $400,000 in damages to his employees and settle over a dozen similar wage theft cases. After he got caught, Moreno repeatedly lied about the case and multiple fact checks found his excuses “false.”
2. Moreno is not the outsider he claims to be. Moreno exploited his “inside” political connections, hefty campaign contributions, and public board appointments for years to steer government contracts and taxpayer dollars towards his businesses – leading Moreno to ultimately cash out for “at least $5 million.” 
3. Moreno is out for himself, not Ohioans. From opposing the bipartisan border security bill that was backed by border patrol agents, opposing the existence of the minimum wage, “reject[ing]” bipartisanship, attacking Ohioans’ healthcare, and encouraging a government shutdown, Moreno has made it clear he won’t fight for Ohioans. 

Three things to know about Frank LaRose:

1. Frank LaRose earned the title of Ohio’s “biggest loser” after making himself the face of – and fumbling – August and November’s Issue 1 amendments. LaRose admitted the August amendment was “100%” about blocking the November abortion rights amendment and then colluded with out-of-state special interest groups to rewrite the November ballot language to be intentionally misleading.
2. LaRose moved the Secretary of State office – for the first time in two decades – to his campaign HQ, costing taxpayers $600,000. LaRose was later called out for possibly violating Ohio Ethics code by soliciting a campaign contribution from a taxpayer-funded building by “record[ing] a campaign interview…in the building where he is moving his taxpayer-funded state offices.” 
3. LaRose – whose day job is to oversee campaign finance compliance in Ohio – failed to meet his financial disclosure deadline, proving he doesn’t think the rules apply to him. After refusing to file his required financial disclosure for weeks, LaRose still failed to explain the “myster[ious]” and “highly unusual” six-figure loan he made to his campaign – despite previously claiming that he couldn’t bankroll his campaign and “mock[ing]” his opponents for their wealth. 

Three things to know about Matt Dolan:

1. Matt Dolan is an out-of-touch, multimillionaire-heir who wrote budgets that lowered his taxes but raised Ohioans’ by over $800 million. 
2. Since 2022, Dolan has spent more than $21 million of his family fortune funding his own political ambitions. Multimillionaire Dolan has relied on his personal and family fortune to fund his political campaigns. Financial records also show he’s used his wealth and connections to secure a massive low-interest loan from mega-bank Morgan Stanley – a sweetheart deal experts say is how the enormously wealthy avoid paying taxes.
3. Dolan supports a national abortion ban, which would overturn the will of the overwhelming majority of Ohioans who voted in favor of a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights. Dolan voted against Issue 1 and said defeating it was a “priority” and called the overturning of Roe v. Wade “exciting.”

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Columbus, OH – After today’s rally featuring Bernie Moreno, Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Katie Smith issued the following statement. 

“Today, Bernie Moreno proved once again that he’s out for himself, not Ohioans. From refusing to pay his employees the overtime they had earned and going so far as to deliberately destroy evidence to cover it up, to supporting a national abortion ban which would overrule Ohioans, to opposing the bill that would crack down on fentanyl coming from China and Mexico – it’s clear that Moreno won’t work for Ohio.”

What You Need To Know About Bernie Moreno:

• Bernie Moreno doesn’t support workers. Moreno refused to pay his employees the overtime they’d earned, deliberately shredded evidence he was legally required to keep to get out of paying them, and was found liable for wage theft by a jury – forcing Moreno to pay over $400,000 in damages to his employees and settle over a dozen similar wage theft cases. After he got caught, Moreno repeatedly lied about the case and  multiple fact checks found his excuses “false.”

• Moreno supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans. Moreno has said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and that he is “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.”  

• Moreno opposed the bipartisan border security bill – which was backed by border patrol agents – that would have helped secure the southern border and protect Ohioans by providing additional manpower at the border, expanding resources for border patrol agents, and cracking down on fentanyl coming from China and Mexico. 

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Howard Wilkinson, WVXU: “Whoever wins the GOP primary will have an uphill climb.” 

Columbus, OH – With just four days left until this “all-out brawl” finally comes to a head, this primary has become a total “bloodbath” that is getting nastier and more expensive by the hour. No matter who claws their way across the finish line, they’ll be bruised and battered with substantial baggage, and will face a steep “uphill climb” after making it clear they won’t fight for Ohioans. 

Here’s a recap of what happened last week in what has been called one of the “messiest,” “most expensive,” and “bruising” primary battles in the country – and has now become an “all-out brawl.”

THE MESSIEST, NASTIEST, MOST EXPENSIVE SENATE PRIMARY IN THE COUNTRY

There’s been months of messy attacks, non-stop infighting, and increasing nastiness in the #OHSEN Slugfest. Let’s open the dictionary on how this race – the nastiest Senate primary in the country – has been described. 

This “slugfest” is “messy,” “bloody,” “bruising,” “expensive,” “heated,” “nasty,” “fractious,” “increasingly hostile.” The field “came out swinging” and have “sparred,” “clashed bitterly,” “traded jabs,” “traded barbs,”  “turn[ed] up [the] heat,” and “continued their attacks” every single day of this “fierce battle,” “three-way brawl,” “clash,” of a primary – and it’s now become an “all-out brawl.”

SLUGFEST DEVOLVES INTO “BLOODBATH”

For months, Ohioans have watched non-stop attacks between the field with more than $41 million spent so far on TV – and that number grows by the hour. 

Politico: “The Republican Senate primary in Ohio has turned nasty, negative and…has become an all-out brawl in the final leg of the race.”

Politico: “Moreno compared Dolan to anti-Trump Republicans Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney, and said LaRose will “lie through his teeth to get political power.” Dolan called Moreno a “phony” and he concluded that LaRose’s mishandling of a constitutional amendment on abortion rights “dismisses” him from the race. LaRose said Moreno is “very liberal” and is part of the “corporate elite” and that Dolan is an “anti-gun guy” with a “very shoddy” abortion record.” 

What Ohioans are seeing:

Understatement of the cycle: whoever comes out the other end of this brawl will be brutally damaged.

💰 MONEY MONEY MONEY: #OHSEN MEGA-MILLIONAIRES *STILL* TRYING TO BUY OHIO’S SENATE SEAT 💰

The #OHSEN field is *still* trying to buy this Senate seat.

On Tuesday, Matt Dolan dumped in another $1 million of his personal fortune into this race, bringing the total he’s self-funded so far this cycle up to $10.2 million. 

And don’t forget: Bernie Moreno is *also* trying to buy Ohio’s Senate seat – he’s a multimillionaire who’s put more than $4 million of his own money in to try to buy this race. 

Plus, new reporting from Axios detailed that Moreno would be “one of the wealthiest senators if elected” – the 6th wealthiest, in fact – with a net worth of up to $106 million and properties spanning from Costa Rica to New York City to the Florida Keys.

Live footage of the #OHSEN Field trying to buy Ohio’s Senate seat: 

SLUGFEST COUNTDOWN

4 days left until this Slugfest – which has devolved into an “all-out brawl” – comes to a head. 

CLEAN UP ON AISLE 5: WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING ABOUT THIS MESSY, NASTY “ALL-OUT BRAWL”

Politico: Republicans are worried as the Ohio Senate primary breaks out into an all-out brawl

Axios: Democrats attack Senate GOP’s wealthy “carpetbagger” candidates

Cleveland.com: Ohio Senate race: Millionaire Republican candidates dip further into personal funds to bankroll campaigns in election’s final weeks

Statehouse News Bureau: Filings show Dolan, Moreno loaned themselves millions for US Senate race’s final leg

AP: Republicans running to face Ohio’s Democratic US Sen. Sherrod Brown this fall vie for voters’ trust

NBC News: Ohio’s GOP Senate primary turns nasty as Trump’s candidate tries to fend off rivals

🙁 FINAL FRIDAY SLUGFEST 🙁

It’s the final Friday of the Ohio Senate Slugfest! We know you’ll miss us…  

But one thing is clear:

No matter which untested rich guy makes it through this expensive slugfest, they’ll enter the general election damaged, with substantial baggage, and a steep hill to climb after making it clear to Ohioans that they’re only out for themselves.

This isn’t a goodbye – it’s a see you later. We’ll be back real soon… so stay tuned! 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Howard Wilkinson, WXVU: “Whoever wins the GOP primary will have an uphill climb.” 

J.D. Vance (yes, we know): “Unfortunately, we’re at a phase where there’s a lot of negative advertising. I think, obviously, that will eventually harm the nominee. The more negative dollars you spend attacking each other, the more it makes it harder.”

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