Trump-backed candidates prevail in Ohio primaries
Illinois incumbents clinch GOP nominations
All eyes were on Ohio on Tuesday as Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno notched a major victory in the Buckeye State’s fiercely competitive Republican Senate primary, setting the lineup for Ohio’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race against Sen. Sherrod Brown, DOhio, in November.
But Ohio wasn’t the only state holding a high-profile election. In California, Assemblyman Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux, sheriff of Tulare County, are now headed for a runoff election in May to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. And in Illinois, three lawmakers fought competitive challengers.
Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio also held presidential contests, in which President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won their respective primaries with little fanfare.
That’s because their rematch was set before anyone cast a ballot on March 19, both having already clinched their party’s nominations last week.
For Biden and Trump, these victories will serve as a reaffirmation of their standing within their parties as they shift focus to the upcoming general election, where the battle for the presidency intensifies amid pressing national issues.
The presidential race will loom large over a more competitive election for the U.S. Senate in Ohio – a prime target for Republicans looking to flip the seat to gain control of the chamber.
What started as a quiet primary in
Ohio ended in turmoil as different factions of the GOP tried to push their chosen congressional candidate over the finish line.
Moreno, who defeated state Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, and state Secretary of State Frank LaRose, will face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio this fall.
A luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur born in Bogota, Colombia, Moreno was largely unknown in Ohio outside of the Cleveland area, where his businesses are based. That made Trump’s endorsement of him in December a bit of a gamble. At that point, Moreno was polling last in a primary that hadn’t gotten much attention. Trump did it anyway.
Despite the nod, Moreno struggled for weeks to break away from the pack and get through to undecided voters. His allies panicked when Dolan surged in the polls and pulled out all the stops to push Moreno to victory. That included a visit from the former president, who hurled insults at Dolan and rallied his supporters for Moreno.
Dolan turned heads when he won the support of Gov. Mike DeWine, a careful politician who doesn’t often wade into primaries. Desite the endorsement, Dolan landed in second place with onethird of the vote.
LaRose, who shed the perception of a traditional, even moderate Republican and began trying to appease Trumpaligned voters, received less than 17% of the vote.
In the end, Moreno’s win − coupled with another rebuke of traditional Republicans − allows Trump to continue claiming influence over GOP races.
Contributing: Jeremy Yurow, Marina Pitofsky, David Jackson, Savannah Kuchar and Terry Moseley, USA TODAY; Associated Press