Ohio voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday to vote in a three-way Republican Senate primary, a competitive race that took a nasty turn in the final stretch of the campaign.
Matt Dolan, Bernie Moreno and Frank LaRose are all running for the chance to take on Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in November as he seeks a fourth term.
And the race could be a test for former President Donald Trump’s endorsement power after he went to bat for Moreno over the weekend.
Polls opened in Ohio at 6:30am ET and will remain open until 7:30pm ET.
Voters are also participating in Ohio’s presidential primaries. But Trump and President Biden already have enough delegates to clinch their parties’ nominations.
More than 162,000 people have already voted by mail including 80,000 registered Republicans. More than 213,000 Ohioans cast ballots early in person including more than 126,000 Republicans.
Republicans Matt Dolan (left), Frank LaRose (center) and Bernie Moreno (right) are in a three way race for the GOP Ohio Senate nomination and the chance to take Sen. Brown in November
Moreno (second from right with wife Bridget) has the lead in the final poll before Ohio votes in the contested primary. For months, it was anyone’s race to win
For months the Ohio GOP Senate primary appeared to be anyone’s race but the latest poll from Emerson College shows Moreno holding a slight edge heading into primary day.
Moreno had 38 percent among likely Republican voters, state Senator Dolan has 29 percent and current Republican Secretary of State LaRose has 12 percent. But heading into the election, 21 percent remained undecided.
Moreno’s widening lead came as Trump traveled to Ohio and held a rally with Moreno on Saturday despite a controversial 11th-hour report linked Moreno to an adult website.
At the rally, Trump slammed Dolan calling him weak on the border and crime while praising Moreno, who he previously endorsed, as an ‘America first’ candidate.
Moreno, a businessman who owned multiple car dealerships, also took the podium where he defended Trump as a ‘great American.’
Moreno also has the endorsement of Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Moreno, an immigrant from Colombia, has called for changing the immigration laws on asylum and deporting all immigrants in the country illegally
Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno appearing with former President Trump at a rally in Ohio on March 16
Polling ahead of the primary showed Trump-backed candidate Bernie Moreno leading in the GOP Ohio Senate primary
But Ohio’s GOP governor backed Dolan, a state senator who also ran in 2022 but lost the primary to Vance. He also has the support of former GOP Senator Rob Portman.
DeWine called Dolan the best candidate to win against Brown come November.
Dolan also has his family’s considerable wealth backing his bid.
The race between Moreno and Dolan took an ugly turn in the final week after an Associated Press report on Thursday raised questions over Moreno’s publicly available email being linked to an adult website profile in 2008.
Moreno’s campaign slammed the report and his lawyer insisted it was a prank pulled off by an intern sixteen years ago which Moreno had nothing to do with.
But the Buckeye Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting Dolan, seized on it, running ads ahead of the primary featuring the AP and calling Moreno ‘creepy’ and ‘damaged goods.’
Polling third in the race is the current Ohio Secretary of State LaRose. He’s running as ‘proven, battle-tested conservative.’
Already more than $48 million has been spent on ads in the Ohio Senate primary, according to tracking by AdImpact. 80 percent of it has been spent in the GOP primary.
Dolan has the most with $17 million in ad support, Moreno had $14.6 million and LaRose trailed far behind with $5 million in ads supporting him.
State Sen. Matt Dolan making a campaign appearance on March 13
Secretary of State Frank LaRose campaigning ahead of the Ohio Senate primary on Feb. 13
All three Republicans are gunning to take on Brown in November.
The Democratic senator is trying to hold onto a seat in a state that has become increasingly red over the past few elections. The GOP in Ohio already controls statewide offices and the legislature.
Republicans are confident they can flip the Ohio Senate seat and several others to retake the Senate from the current one-seat Democrat majority.
Brown won re-election in 2018 but the last Democrat to win the presidential race in the state was Barack Obama.
This year, Republicans there expect to benefit with Trump at the top of the ballot and say Brown is toast, but Democrats remain bullish in their incumbent.
As Ohio plays front-and-center in the Republican path to a majority, Democrats have been meddling in the primary.
The move is reminiscent of the gamble Democrats made in some 2022 primaries where they promoted conservative ‘MAGA’ candidates they believed Democrats had a better chance of beating in the general election.
An ad placed by Duty and Country PAC which is largely funded through the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC that works to help elect Democrats, spent at east $2.7 million in ad reservations for an ad propping up Moreno ahead of the primary.
Republicans supporting Dolan cried foul.
The winner of the Ohio GOP Senate primary will take on Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown
But despite meddling and mudslinging, the GOP candidates have some similar stances on major issues.
Like it has been across the country, the border has been the number one issue in the Ohio primary.
All three candidates have been vying as the toughest on immigration. None of them support for the Senate bipartisan border deal which was tanked by Republicans.
Dolan has called for closing the border. LaRose has called for deploying the military to the border.
Moreno, an immigrant from Colombia, has called for changing the immigration laws on asylum and deporting all immigrants in the country illegally.
Issues Democrats are sure to seize on in the general election: all three celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade and have supported some level of federal abortion restriction.
All three have also been critical of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, and they have all attempted to tie Brown to President Biden.
Where the candidates have differed is on aid to Ukraine. Moreno is against the U.S. providing additional funding. Dolan supports funding arguing the U.S. can address issues in the states and abroad and the money helps keep the U.S. safe. LaRose said he is open to funding but not until after the U.S. addresses its own border.
Meanwhile, Democrats have also been accusing the GOP Senate hopefuls of trying to buy a Senate seat.
The expensive primary has seen a significant amount of self-funding.
Dolan loaned his campaign $9 million, a vast majority of the $11.4 million total raised. His parents Larry and Eva Dolan also contributed $1 million each to the super PAC supporting him, filings show.
Moreno has also loaned his campaign more than $4 million, nearly half the his campaign’s total receipts according to the latest filings.
LaRose has also loaned his campaign funds but a much smaller amount by comparison: $250,000.