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CLEVELAND — Bernie Moreno’s Ohio Senate campaign has raised more than $2.2 million in its first three months, according to numbers the Republican shared first with NBC News.
The figure, which puts Moreno on competitive footing in what’s expected to be an expensive GOP primary, does not include funds raised by super PACS or money from the candidate.
That latter point is particularly significant. When Moreno briefly sought Ohio’s GOP Senate nomination in 2022, the wealthy businessman loaned his campaign more than $3.8 million — about $1 million more than he raised from donors before dropping out of the race. Though he isn’t yet self-funding this bid, Moreno hasn’t ruled out doing so later in the race if necessary.
More than $1.3 million of what Moreno raised from April through June came from Ohioans, according to the campaign. Moreno had not run for elected office before his 2022 bid, though he had been a well-established contributor to GOP candidates in the state.
“I am grateful and honored by the groundswell of support for our campaign,” Moreno said in a statement shared by his campaign. “Ohioans have had enough of the same old thing and insider politics of Sherrod Brown and the Washington establishment. I’m proud to be an America First political outsider who can bring a message of conservative change to Washington.”
Moreno is among several Republicans lining up for the opportunity to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024. Brown, who is in his third term in a state that former President Donald Trump twice won by comfortable margins, is seen as one of the most vulnerable incumbents this cycle. Trump has encouraged Moreno’s candidacy — Moreno’s daughter and son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, both worked for Trump — but has not officially endorsed him.
The second-quarter fundraising numbers from Moreno are the first to trickle out from Ohio Senate candidates ahead of a July 15 filing deadline. Those reports will also show how much Moreno and other contenders spent and how much money their campaigns had on hand as of June 30.
In the first quarter, state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians, reported raising $303,000 in the first quarter but also loaned his campaign $3 million. Moreno entered the race in April, at the start of the second quarter.
A third GOP hopeful, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, is expected to enter the race soon. LaRose last week tweeted a photo of an unsigned statement of candidacy, dated July 15.
Dolan also ran for the GOP nomination in 2022, finishing third in the primary after putting more than $10 million of his own money — a combination of contributions and loans — into the campaign. Now-Sen. JD Vance won that crowded primary after an endorsement from Trump.
Vance has endorsed Moreno for the 2024 nomination.