CLEVELAND – Some Democrats are trying to re-elect a senator. Sherrod Brown In Ohio this fall, he is seeking to raise fears about his opponent’s Colombian family and heritage, drawing accusations of racism from Republicans.
Bernie Moreno, businessman who immigrated to the United States as a childHe came here “to take advantage of America’s wealth and greatness,” Peg Watkins, the Democratic Party chairwoman of Delaware County, the state’s key district that includes the affluent suburbs of Columbus, said at an event last week as she warmed up the crowd. For Brown.
“That’s why we’re doing everything we can to prevent him from invading our Senate,” Watkins said.
notes, First reported by Signal OhioSenate Majority Leader DN.Y. Watch for ads from WinSenate, a political action committee affiliated with Chuck Schumer, portraying Moreno and his family as shadowy, politically connected figures with foreign allegiances.
Moreno comes from a wealthy and prominent family in Colombia, with several relatives holding high positions in business and government.
“Moreno’s powerful Colombian family diverted our money to Latin American banks for so-called development projects – projects in which his family invested millions – and then they returned the money to Bernie. an advertisement. “Our tax dollars, the Moreno family’s windfall. Bernie Moreno only thinks about himself.”
Rhetoric has become a point of tension of late in the race This could determine partisan control of the Senate. Republicans need to flip just two seats to secure a majority next year, and West Virginia is seen as an almost certain pickup. Ohio and Montana, two states that former President Donald Trump won by wide margins twice, are the top two GOP targets.
Moreno, 57, has been a US citizen for nearly 40 years. If elected next month, he would be Ohio’s first U.S. senator of color.
Asked by NBC News on Tuesday after early voting in Cleveland, Moreno called Democratic messaging “racist” and said his campaign is asking TV stations to pull WinSenate advertising.
“The idea that you would question my integrity or that I would be involved in illegal operations in South America is abhorrent,” Moreno said. “It’s gross, and frankly, I’m sick of it.”
Sarah Guggenheimer, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority PAC, a Schumer-friendly political organization that includes WinSenate, defended the ad.
“Ohioans know that Bernie Moreno is only interested in continuing his family’s dynastic tradition of using political power to sell out working families for his own gain,” Guggenheimer said in a written statement. “This ridiculous accusation is exactly what we’ve come to expect from a candidate who finally took a break from inciting violence in Springfield. to insult women Long enough to realize that this race is quickly slipping out of his grasp.
A spokesman for Brown’s campaign declined to comment for this article. County Chairman Watkins did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of the claims on the WinSenate site stem from it Associated Press report About Moreno’s immigrant background. The article explored the complex political and business relationships involving Moreno’s brothers and cousin. His older brother, Luis Alberto Moreno, is a former Colombian ambassador to the United States and former president of the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank, which finances projects in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The AP article also noted the political donations these relatives made to Moreno’s campaigns, but the article omitted the stark connections and implications WinSenate made in its ad.
Immigration has been at the center of this year’s presidential and primary campaigns, and Republicans have faced repeated scrutiny for how they talk about the issue. There’s Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance spreading baseless and racially motivated rumours Haitian immigrants eating their pets in Springfield, Ohio. There is also Moreno, who is supported by Trump strengthened his claims on social media.
Jai Chabria, a GOP strategist and Vance adviser who is not affiliated with Moreno’s campaign, said there is a double standard in how Democrats’ attacks are covered compared to the attention given to Republicans’ racially charged rhetoric.
“Democratic experts believe that this is the biggest blow in the country. If the shoe was on the other foot and it wasn’t about a Democrat in this race, Jimmy Kimmel would be talking about it in his monologue,” he said. “If you’re a Democrat, it’s okay to be a racist.”
In a statement, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Philip Letsou called the WinSenate ads “thinly veiled racist attacks” on Moreno’s legacy.
“Now that they can see Ohio State starting to slide, the mask is completely off,” Letsou said. “Sherrod Brown should condemn these horrible, racist tactics and call on Chuck Schumer to immediately pull his ads attacking Moreno’s ethnicity for the sake of basic human dignity.”
WinSenate ads incl another ad It’s part of a broader effort scrutinizing Moreno and his “powerful Colombian family.” by PACBrown and other non-Democratic groups characterize him as an unreliable leader. They cited past court proceedings, focusing on Moreno’s days as a car salesman discrimination in the workplace and overtime pay against their companies.
It’s an Ohio race is one of the most expensive in the country Total advertising spending this fall has exceeded $100 million since September 1. Brown, the only Democrat to win consecutive Ohio elections, is seeking a fourth term. Moreno, who briefly ran for Senate in 2022 but dropped out before the primary, is a well-known former car salesman in the Cleveland area.
End requests they featured a close battle between Brown and Moreno within the margin of error.