Six Months Out, Ohio Senate Slugfest Just Getting Messier
September 19, 2023
Columbus, OH – The 2024 primary is six months away and Ohio’s Senate Slugfest just keeps getting messier and more divisive. As the infighting escalates, it’s clear whoever emerges from this bruising fight will be badly damaged in the eyes of Ohioans headed into the general election.
Here’s what you need to know about the #OHSEN Slugfest, which has already been called one of the “messiest,” “most expensive,” and “bruising” primary battles in the country:
- Bernie Moreno is one of two mega millionaires in this race and is worth over a hundred million dollars – including properties in Costa Rica, New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Florida Keys worth between $5.1 million to $24.7 million altogether. Donald Trump has encouraged Moreno and Moreno is endorsed by J.D. Vance, who is close with Trump. Moreno has said he is “unequivocally pro-life,” supports a national abortion ban and does not support exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother.
- Frank LaRose is now at the center of the November election to overturn Ohio’s restrictive abortion ban after making himself the biggest loser of the August special election. LaRose has been called out for putting “his thumb on the scale of fairness – again” by rewriting the November amendment language to be “intentionally misleading.” LaRose has already promised that even if Ohioans vote to protect abortion rights, he would overturn them by voting for a national abortion ban. LaRose has faced scandal after scandal throughout his campaign, most recently for wasting over half a million dollars in taxpayer funds to move his official office to the same building as his campaign. LaRose has also been critical of Donald Trump, saying the former President’s endorsement “doesn’t carry the same weight it used to” and refused to endorse Trump in 2016, 2020, and even for the first week of his Senate campaign.
- Matt Dolan is a mega millionaire who is using a “cheap loan” with a too-good-to-be-true interest rate only available to “wealthy politicians” to bankroll his Senate campaign. Dolan, who self-funded his last Senate campaign, has already loaned himself $4 million this cycle. Despite his enormous wealth, Dolan broke his pledge to use his PAC to support GOP candidates and is instead using it to funnel money to his campaign consultants. Dolan has also made critical comments of President Trump and his primary opponents, claiming whoever Trump endorses in the race will eventually lose.
- All three GOP candidates oppose the November amendment to protect reproductive rights and support dangerous abortion bans, including bans with no exceptions for rape or incest.
What Ohioans are reading about the #OHSEN Slugfest:
- Daily Beast: Ohio Is Shaping Up to Be the Messiest Senate Primary of 2024
- J.D. Vance: “We’re going to have a very brutal primary in the state of Ohio, just like we did in 2022.”
- NBC: “Ohio’s Senate race next year is expected to be one of the most expensive in the country. It will start with what already has the makings of a messy, Trump-influenced primary…”
- Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “We wouldn’t describe any of the potential Republican Senate nominees in Ohio as slam dunk candidate…”
- The Messenger: Another competitive and expensive GOP primary is brewing in the Buckeye State
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