On the Ohio campaign trail with Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Bernie Moreno

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Bernie Moreno addressing supporters outside Genoa Baptist Church. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)

On a sunny afternoon last week, Bernie Moreno’s big red tour bus pulled into the parking lot of Genoa Baptist Church. The Republican U.S. Senate nominee was on hand for the “Battleground Talkers Tour” with conservative radio personalities like Hugh Hewitt and Bruce Hooley. But before heading inside, Moreno spoke to a couple dozen supporters getting ready to go out knocking on doors. In a patterned blue suit with a red tie and matching socks, he described visiting a grade school that morning on Columbus’ west side.

“I said, what would you like to know about me? And one kid raised his hand and goes, I don’t need to know anything about you, sir, I just know that Sherrod Brown is too liberal for Ohio,” parroting the campaign commercials that have been dominating televisions for weeks.

“If a six-year-old can get it, I think the rest of the electorate can get it,” he said, joking that the campaign may have “overshot” on its Disney+ ad buy.

The canvassing effort was organized by Americans for Prosperity Action, the political arm of Koch-funded 501(c)(4) Americans for Prosperity. AFP Action also operates two sister organizations — Libre Action, which focuses on Hispanic communities, and CVA Action, which focuses on veterans. Lair Marin-Marcum from Libre sung Moreno’s praises.

“Bernie is the best bet right now,” she told the canvassers. “Not only for the Hispanic community, for all communities to really make changes that are much needed in Ohio.”

The following day, Moreno was in Summit County with CVA Action, which Brown supporters have criticized for supporting a plan that would’ve closed the Chillicothe VA hospital.

AFP Action senior advisor Donovan O’Neil explained the group had already knocked on about 770,000 doors with plans for crossing the 1 million mark before election day.

Lighting a fire

Moreno was joined by Secretary of State Frank LaRose and U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas. LaRose made a case for early voting, which following the party’s standard bearer hasn’t always been part of the Republican formula.

“I think the word has gotten out there that if the other side votes for four weeks, and we only vote for one day, that’s going to be a problem for us,” he said.

He added it’s a good way to get crossed off canvassers’ lists, in a kind of stage whisper that might carry to voters’ doors. LaRose also played up the fact that just a few months ago he was Moreno’s opponent in the GOP primary.

“I can tell you that you don’t know how tough somebody is until you go a couple rounds with him,” LaRose said, “And this man’s tough. This is the guy that we need to send to Washington.”

He argued Moreno will better represent “Ohio’s values” and help deliver a Republican majority to fire Chuck Schumer and implement Donald Trump’s agenda.

Sen. Marshall was on hand to add weight to the anti-trans attack ads Moreno’s supporters have been leaning on in the final weeks of the campaign. Marshall co-sponsored the amendments invoked in those ads, and argued “95% of Buckeyes” oppose allowing trans people to play sports or use restrooms that align with their gender identity.

“I’ve yet to meet the person that can look at me in the eye and say, ‘Oh, I perfectly fine with that,’” he said.

A recent Baldwin Wallace poll suggested large majorities of Ohioans are uncomfortable with providing gender affirming care for minors, allowing trans-athletes to play sports or use public bathrooms in line with their identity. But while those majorities were high, landing between 64% and 73% (with 4-point margin of error), they were nowhere near the 95% Marshall suggested.

Fact-checkers have also dismissed his characterization of Sen. Brown’s votes as allowing trans-athletes to participate in girls’ sports. Eligibility for youth sports isn’t really part of Congress’ job. Instead, Brown voted against amendments tacked on to broader spending bills that would have conditioned money for schools on policies barring that participation.

Notably, Ohio has passed legislation imposing the kind of prohibitions Marshall and other Republicans are seeking.

Marshall gestured toward “more important issues” like the economy and jobs, but insisted trans-athletes participating in youth sports is a kind of litmus test.

“If a person couldn’t handle something pretty simple in my in my opinion, like boys and girls sports, then they have no business being the next President of the United States and no business representing Buckeyes,” Marshall argued. “That indeed, indeed, indeed, Sherrod Brown is too liberal for Ohio.”

Moreno argued Brown hasn’t been campaigning that hard, rattling off a list of fall festivals and punctuating each one with “Sherrod Brown, nowhere to be seen.” But like Marshall, he found himself working hard to explain and justify his position.

Brown has repeatedly attacked Moreno on abortion. In response, Moreno insisted “My opponent has no interest in bringing the country together. He is only interested in this issue as a political weapon, and we’re not going to let him do that.”

Moreno has previously described himself as “100% pro-life, no exceptions,” but has more recently embraced the idea of a 15-week ban nationally with exceptions for rape incest or the life of the mother. His campaign is also smarting after a video came to light of him calling it “a little crazy” for older women to premise their vote on abortion policy.

In an interview with The Washington Times, he tried to defuse the controversy by diagramming the sentence — crazy referred to the idea, he said, not a person.

AFP Action senior advisor Donovan O’Neil speaking with Paul Stokell. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)

Preaching to the choir

Once the politicians had finished addressing them, O’Neil took the mic and reminded the crowd they’re an action organization, and encouraged everyone to “grab some door hangers, and get out there and knock doors.”

O’Neil himself started in a neighborhood a few minutes away made up of relatively new, higher-end homes. Trees planted in regular intervals were beginning color and the sidewalks were scattered with red and gold leaves.

With a big stack of pro-Moreno door hangers in hand, O’Neil explained the universe of voters they’re targeting aren’t strongly oriented to one party or the other.

“Yeah, they’re people who’re convincible,” he said, “and in the conversations we’ve had at the doors, it feels that way.”

They arrive at their lists by combing through voter history, electoral outcomes and demographic information to narrow the pool of voters to those who might be persuadable. This late in the process, though, O’Neil acknowledged voters’ perceptions of the candidates have likely begun to crystalize.

As he started knocking on doors that became apparent.

After hanging placards at a few homes where people weren’t home, he arrived at Paul Stokell’s house. Stokell was genial and happy to chat, but explained for him at least, O’Neil was too late — Stokell had already voted. O’Neil was actually looking for Stokell’s wife and kids, none of whom were home, but Stokell assured him his wife was planning on voting early and he’s encouraging his children to do so as well.

O’Neil asked if Stokell was willing to share who he voted for, and Stokell said he’d voted for a straight Republican ticket.

“I think with the Senate race, you know, change was definitely needed,” he said, adding that further down the ballot, “I think basically we needed to be constant.”

A few doors down a woman named Connie, who didn’t want to share her last name explained she’d already voted, too. She described herself as someone who’s backed Democrats in the past but was turned off by the current administration.

“Biden and Harris got in there, and she just ruined everything,” she said. “I think they did.”

It wasn’t entirely clear, but it appeared as though Connie voted for Barack Obama but quickly soured on the party. She was doubtful about voting for Brown in previous U.S. Senate races and adamant that she hadn’t supported Bill Clinton.

“Like I said, we did not, before the Obama administration, we voted all Republican,” she explained. “And then he didn’t do anything, and that just changed our mind. We didn’t vote for him, and nothing’s been done since.”

She didn’t have any specific praise for Moreno, but said “anybody that follows Trump, I’m going to vote for because I like what Trump stands for.”

“No matter what anybody says about him, I think he’s got a good heart,” Connie said of Donald Trump. “He stands for the people, and foreign leaders, they’re afraid of him. That’s what we need.”

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.