Decision Desk HQ has called the Ohio Senate race for businessman Bernie Moreno. Moreno was endorsed by Donald Trump, Rep. Jim Jordan, and Sen. J.D. Vance, and bested his opponents in a three-way contest to win the nomination.
With 39% of the vote counted in the Buckeye State, Moreno stands at 48.5%, with state Sen. Matt Dolan at 33.2% and Sec. of State Frank LaRose at a distant third with 18.2%.
Earlier in the evening, Moreno and Dolan were neck and neck. As more votes were counted, Moreno pulled ahead and dominated the race.
Moreno will now face Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has been in the Senate for 17 years and has proven impervious to Republican challenges for his seat, even though Ohio is a solidly red state. Republicans have held all statewide offices and both chambers of the legislature for several election cycles, yet Brown still remains the senior senator from Ohio.
Brown has amassed a massive war chest of $14.6 million, in part because he didn’t have primary challengers. It will now be up to Moreno, a political newcomer, to find a way to beat the entrenched incumbent. Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball have the race as a toss-up. The RealClearPolitics average shows Brown at +5 in a matchup between Moreno and Brown.
In other news, Ohioans voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, who clinched the nomination last week. He took 78.7% of the vote. Nikki Haley, who withdrew from the race after losing in her home state of S. Carolina, got 15.1%, much of that likely from early voting. Other candidates only brought in single digits, as to be expected.
