OHIO — Former Trump administration adviser Kellyanne Conway was back in Ohio on Tuesday, hoping to once again have success with a campaign in the Buckeye State. 

Conway was campaigning for Bernie Moreno who is among a group of Republicans vying to replace Sen. Rob Portman who is not running for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

“He has signed the front of the paycheck, not just the back of the paycheck. He's been a revenue generator, a job creator,” Conway said about Moreno's success outside of politics.  

The Ohio car dealer who also became a tech executive is campaigning as an outsider, similar to President Donald Trump back in 2016. Now, the former president’s campaign manager will serve as Moreno’s senior adviser. 

“It is absolutely a fact that Donald Trump blew to smithereens this fiction of electability that for years was just sucking the lifeblood out of really great candidates,” Conway said. “You can’t win, she can win, he can’t win. How do I know that? How do I know who can win two years before an election?”

Conway became Trump’s campaign manager during the general election in 2016. Trump would eventually win Ohio and the presidency, making Conway the first woman to run a successful presidential campaign. Now, she’s returning to the world of politics for another candidate pledging to shake up Washington. 

"I think the most refreshing thing about him is that he literally has this great life which doesn’t need to squeeze in a run for office and all the venom and nonsense that can come with that,” said Conway.  

And as an endorsement from Trump looms over the Republican Senate primary race, Conway says she has had conversations with the former president. She says his endorsement will ultimately be his and his alone. 

“I’ll just allow the president to make up his own mind. He knows why I’m working with Bernie Moreno,” Conway said. “I called the president to tell him I would be doing that right before Bernie and his campaign announced it. I wanted to do him the courtesy and show him the respect, and I also laid out the case.” 

Moreno isn’t the only candidate with no political experience receiving backing from major names outside of Ohio. Author J.D. Vance has the backing of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel if he chooses to run. Businessman Mike Gibbons has an endorsement from Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. 

Other Republicans running in the May 2022 primary include former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and former Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken.