WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bernie Moreno wasn’t always on the Trump train.
In 2016, he said during a radio interview that “there’s no scenario in which I would support Trump.”
In a 2019 interview with WKYC he said, “My daughter works on 2020 Trump. She’s free to do that. We have a vigorous debate about politics, and my daughter works on the Trump campaign. That doesn’t mean that I support the Trump campaign.”
That stance changed sometime before Moreno first ran for Senate in the 2022 election.
“I’ve been honest where I stood with President Trump back in 2015 and 2016,” he said Feb. 19 at an Ohio Republican Senate candidate forum hosted by Spectrum News. “I think like a lot of Republicans here, there were some people who didn’t support President Trump. I’m very happy I was wrong. He was one of the greatest—the greatest president of my lifetime.”
That change of heart helped him earn the coveted endorsement of former President Donald Trump, instantly boosting Moreno’s campaign from the lowest-polling to the frontrunner of the Ohio Senate Republican primary.
Republican voters in Ohio said Trump’s endorsement had a definite impact on their voting choice.
“I believe in President Trump,” said Linda Ghiloni of Newark, Ohio.
“I think it’s a huge plus,” said Michael Castelli of Dublin, Ohio. “Let’s not forget, Trump won half the country in the last election.”
“I’m not a gopher to do whatever he would say, but I would lean if I heard him give that endorsement. I would be like, I really need to look into him,” said Thomas Gill of Fairfield Beach, Ohio.
Moreno touts himself as a political outsider—like former President Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, a former Trump critic who won Trump’s endorsement in 2022, fueling his primary and later election victories.
Vance in fact pushed Trump to endorse Moreno this election cycle.
“I spoke with the president about the race a number of times,” Vance said. “I think we have good candidates in Ohio, but I think that Bernie is the best.”
The Republican primary is throwing a spotlight on two movements within the party: traditional, small-government conservatism and America First populism. With Trump’s endorsement, Moreno has planted himself firmly in the party’s populist wing. He insisted the America First platform—not Donald Trump—defines him.
“It’s about the agenda,” Moreno said when Spectrum News’ Harri Leigh asked if there were any issues on which he disagreed with Trump. “What’s the agenda? It’s very straightforward. We’re a sovereign country. We’re going to have a secure border. We’re going to have energy dominance. We’re going to make trade deals that benefits the U.S. We’re going to make certain that we have safety and security around the world. So it’s not about one man and one person. That’s the agenda. And that’s what we’re 100% (aligned with).”
That approach appeals to Ohio Republican voters who said they supported the former president’s policies but were turned off by his behavior.
“He may say the right things all the time,” said David Wolff of Collins, Ohio. “But I can tolerate a person who doesn’t always say the right things, but does the right things.”
“We’re not electing a pope, a priest, a pastor…” Thomas Gill said. “We’re wanting someone who actually we feel safe to say, ‘He’s got my back.’”
The Trump connection, though, is a two-edged sword in the general election, where his endorsement is a negative for many Democratic and independent voters. Trump holds a net favorability rating of -14 in Ohio, according to a poll by Ohio Northern University.
As the state has grown more conservative in recent years, though, Moreno is betting he can win with no Democratic support. Even if he wins the Republican primary, he and his allies said they would not try to appeal to Democrats.
“The Democrats and the Republicans think pretty different things these days. I think he’s got immense appeal to independents, and so I think his base is broader than just the Republican Party,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who has endorsed Moreno.
Twenty-two percent of Republican primary voters plan to support Moreno, 21% plan to support Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and 15% plan to support State Sen. Matt Dolan, according to a January poll by Emerson College.
The incumbent Democratic candidate, Sen. Sherrod Brown, consistently outperforms his own party in Ohio. Brown won statewide by 8 points in 2018, the same margin Trump won Ohio by two years later.
Moreno’s best chance of cutting that number down is to link Brown and President Joe Biden, which he does often on the campaign trail.
“In this election, it’s going to be a referendum on Biden and Brown,” Moreno said. “This is what life was like under Biden and Brown. We understand it, it’s terrible. Energy prices are high, inflation crushing us. We have instability all over the world. But we know what life was like under President Trump. It’s going to be that simple.”
If he manages to convince enough voters, Moreno’s ride on the Trump train could take him all the way to the Senate.
Editor's note: This story is part of a series on the Republican candidates running in Ohio's U.S. Senate primary.