A group linked to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is jumping in with last-minute funds to influence Ohio’s GOP Senate primary, one of the closest-watched races in the country.
Duty and Country PAC, affiliated with the Schumer-linked Senate Majority PAC, launched at least $2.5 million on a TV ad in Ohio that will promote businessman Bernie Moreno, endorsed in the race by former President Trump, as too conservative in a presumed effort to boost him in the GOP Senate primary, Politico reported.
"Bernie Moreno is too conservative for Ohio,"the narrator says in the 30 second ad, which began running in Ohio on Thursday morning. "In Washington, Moreno would do Donald Trump’s bidding. "That’s why Trump endorsed Moreno, calling him ‘exactly the type of MAGA fighter that we need in the United States Senate."
The ad explains that Moreno would "lead the charge" to lead Trump’s agenda to "repeal Obamacare" and "institute a national abortion ban."
"Donald Trump needs Bernie Moreno," the narrator adds. "Bernie Moreno does not."
"When Ohio voters head to their polling place they deserve to know the truth about Bernie Moreno — and the truth is that Moreno is a MAGA extremist who embraced Donald Trump just like he embraced his policies to ban abortion nationwide and repeal the ACA," Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Hannah Menchhoff said in a statement.
Moreno’s primary opponents, Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Republican State Sen. Matt Dolan, took to social media and claimed the ad is evidence that Schumer views Moreno as the most favorable candidate for his Democratic colleague Sen. Sherrod Brown.
TRUMP HEADING TO OHIO WITH HIS GOP CLOUT ON THE LINE IN CONTENTIOUS REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY
"Chuck Schumer is funding pro-Moreno ads because he knows Bernie’s background makes him the weakest candidate to face Sherrod Brown," LaRose posted on X. "The more Ohioans learn about Moreno, the less they trust him."
"Seen those ads supporting Bernie Moreno? Know who is paying for them? It’s Chuck Schumer," Dolan wrote on X. "Schumer just got CAUGHT meddling in our primary because he wants the weakest opponent for Sherrod Brown. Enough is enough."
The Moreno campaign told Fox News Digital that Democrats "constantly underestimate the America First movement at their own peril."
"They thought President Trump would be easy to beat in 2016 and then they got their clocks cleaned when he demolished Hillary Clinton. The same thing is going to happen to Sherrod Brown this year," Moreno campaign communications director Reagan McCarthy said.
Tuesday's Senate primary will be closely watched as the 3 Republican candidates are locked in what many believe is a tight race to move on to challenge Brown, the only Democrat to win statewide in Ohio in the past decade.
An Emerson College poll released this week showed Dolan in the lead by 3 points about a week after Moreno released an internal poll showing him in the lead by 10 points.
Both polls showed a significant amount of voters, around 30%, still undecided.
Cook Political Report ranks the Ohio Senate race in November as a "toss up" making it one of the few opportunities Republicans have to try and regain control of the Senate.
