This blog originally appeared at ADVOCATE.
He will face Democrat Sherrod Brown, who is supportive of LGBTQ rights, in November. Meanwhile, trans woman Arienne Childrey won her primary for the Ohio House.
Bernie Moreno, an ally of Donald Trump, has secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Ohio and will challenge Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, a longtime supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, in November.
Moreno won Tuesday’s primary against two more traditional Republicans, state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. With 93 percent of the vote counted, Moreno had 50.5 percent, Dolan 32.8 percent, and LaRose 16.7 percent, according to The New York Times.
A car dealer and political newcomer, Moreno once expressed LGBTQ-friendly views, supporting the Gay Games held in Ohio in 2014 both financially and through an opinion column in Crain’s Cleveland Business. However, his recent public stances have shifted towards an anti-LGBTQ+ perspective.
He also faced scrutiny over a profile that briefly appeared on a dating website called Adult Friend Finder in 2008, which sought sexual liaisons with men, as reported by the Associated Press. Moreno’s team has stated to The Advocate, the AP, and other media that the profile was created as a prank by an intern at Moreno’s business.
Moreno was a critic of Trump just a few years ago and once said he could never vote for Trump, according to CNN’s KFile. However, now he and the former president are enthusiastically supporting each other.
Brown is one of the Republicans’ top targets this year, as Ohio is trending increasingly conservative and he is its only remaining statewide Democratic elected official, other than judges. He remains popular, however, while continuing to take progressive positions, including support for LGBTQ+ rights. He has consistently received perfect scores on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard during his three terms in the Senate. He faced no opposition in the Democratic primary.
Leading up to the primary, a Democratic group ran ads highlighting Moreno’s conservatism and his connections to Trump. This suggests the party “viewed him as the weakest candidate against Brown,” CNN reports.
Several other states also held primaries on Tuesday, mainly for presidential preferences and some down-ballot races. In Ohio, transgender candidate Arienne Childrey, a Democrat, won her primary for the state House of Representatives in District 84, facing no opposition except for a write-in campaign. She had previously faced the threat of disqualification for not listing her deadname on official paperwork, but her county elections board ultimately decided not to disqualify her.
In November, Childrey will compete against Republican incumbent Angela King, who has sponsored a bill to ban drag shows in certain venues and subject performers to criminal penalties. King also supported legislation restricting gender-affirming care and trans participation in school sports, which passed after lawmakers overrode Governor Mike DeWine’s veto.
Another LGBTQ+ candidate for the Ohio House, gay man Eli Bohnert, lost the District 6 Democratic primary to Christine Cockley.
In Illinois, openly LGBTQ+ officeholders Eric Sorensen (U.S. House), Kelly Cassidy (Illinois House), and Mike Simmons (Illinois Senate) all ran unopposed in their primaries. All three are Democrats.
https://www.advocate.com/politics/bernie-moreno-ohio-republican-primary
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