EXCLUSIVE: WESTLAKE, OHIO – Moments after delivering his victory speech in the GOP Ohio Senate primary on Tuesday night, businessman Bernie Moreno touted the importance of former President Trump’s endorsement and his plans for both his general election campaign and potential agenda as a U.S. senator.
“Let’s just say this, an endorsement from President Donald J. Trump is the most powerful endorsement in modern political history,” Moreno told Fox News Digital during an interview following his victory speech. “There’s never been anything like it before, probably won’t be anything like it afterwards, so I was incredibly honored.”
“It was probably decisive because at the end of the day, he’s the ultimate good housekeeping seal of approval. People like President Trump in Ohio for a very good reason. When he was president, we had world stability, we had low interest rates with good wages going up. So things were objectively good when President Trump was in office, and they’re really bad under President Biden.”
When asked whether his victory was a “test” on Trump’s clout with the GOP, Moreno said his primary win was a “victory for the America First agenda.”
TRUMP-BACKED BERNIE MORENO WINS CONTENTIOUS OHIO GOP SENATE PRIMARY
Businessman Bernie Moreno, left, and Sen. Sherrod Brown. (Getty Images)
“I think what I’ve heard all over Ohio is that what people expect from their leaders is to put America first,” Moreno said. “That should be the job description by the way. That shouldn’t even be an issue for one candidate versus another and they’re also sick of career politicians. They’re sick of people who do this for a living.”
Trump endorsed Moreno in December, which immediately boosted him in the polls and assisted in his campaign message against Republican State Sen. Matt Dolan, who was endorsed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and former Sen. Rob Portman, both considered to be top members of Ohio’s Republican old guard or establishment.
Moreno, who earned a commanding victory on Tuesday night and looked to be on track to win every county in the state, told Fox News he expects his matchup with Brown is going to get “nasty.”
“It’s going to be very nasty for one reason, Sherrod Brown can’t run on anything other than nastiness,” Moreno said. “He has no record. This guy is an abject failure. He has not done anything for Ohio. His policies have crushed working-class Americans, so he has no choice. He has to distract from a record of total failure and disaster. His adherence to Joe Biden, his bending the knee to Elizabeth Warren, he has to answer to that.”
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“So what he’ll do is change the subject and, of course, pick out God knows what about me. I look forward to a race about issues. If we make this race about issues, he loses probably 70-30. But of course he’s going to have a lot of money. He knows how to raise money from all kinds of special interest groups. He knows how to beat up people all over the nation for five bucks or 10 bucks that he sells them a bill of goods. So it’s going to be a very nasty race. I’m prepared for it.”
Shortly after Moreno’s victory, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee posted on X that Ohio Republicans chose a “far-right anti-abortion multi-millionaire” who is “only looking out for himself.”
“Did they say Hispanic immigrant Bernie Moreno with a compelling life story sacrifices everything to save America?” Moreno joked when asked about that statement from the DSCC.
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Republican presidential candidate former President Trump, right, greets Ohio Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Bernie Moreno during a rally at the Dayton International Airport on March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. The rally was hosted by the Buckeye Values PAC. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Bernie Moreno, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, left, smiles at supporters during his primary election night watch party in Westlake, Ohio, on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Former President Trump rallied for Moreno on Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photos/Jeff Dean/David Dermer)
“Did they point out I would be the first Hispanic elected statewide or the first South American born Senator? None of that?”
Brown quickly reacted to Moreno’s victory on social media.
“The choice ahead of Ohio is clear: Bernie Moreno has spent his career and campaign putting himself first, and would do the same if elected,” Brown posted on X after Moreno’s victory. “I’ll always work for Ohio.”
Moreno’s race will be one of the most closely watched in November, with many believing that Ohio is one of the strongest opportunities Republicans have to help take back control of the U.S. Senate.
If Moreno is able to defeat Brown, he shared with Fox News Digital what his “Day One” plans are in Washington, D.C.
“Day one in the U.S. Senate we’re going to pick a majority leader because we’re going to have the majority,” Moreno said. “That’s going to be somebody who presents a vision for the Republican Party, somebody who works hand-in-glove with President Trump to get the agenda completed.”
“And then, of course, we have to secure our border, we can’t have a country without a border, so we have to make it clear that we want immigrants that add to America, not to lower our wages, and we have to have zero tolerance for illegal immigration, and we’re going to put that in place.”
From left to right, Kari Lake, Bernie Moreno and JD Vance talk to reporters in Milford, Ohio. (Fox News Digital)
Moreno went on to say that “energy dominance” will be a top priority from the start.
“Not energy independence,” Moreno said. “Energy dominance. “That’s mining for coal, drilling for oil and extracting natural gas, and we have to build nuclear power plants in this country again, so that we have the low cost of energy that allows us to bring manufacturing back.“
“Those are the things we’re going to do pretty much in the first 100 days, and then we’re going to get rid of the Department of Education. Its stranglehold on our kids, it’s what’s causing this indoctrination, and we also have to reform our three letter agencies.”
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Moreno told Fox News he looks forward to working with Republican senators like JD Vance, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
“We are going to have a great group of conservatives that actually get this agenda forward. We’re going to show America what life is like under a conservative government, which means more freedom and liberty, less government.”
Democrats control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a favorable Senate map in 2024, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. Three of those seats are in red states that Trump carried in 2020 — Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, where Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin is not running for re-election.