The Ohio Republican Senate primary race is heating up, as candidate and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s campaign faces accusations of threatening former President Donald Trump into an endorsement — accusations the campaign failed to address when questioned by Breitbart News.
LaRose, businessman Bernie Moreno, and State Sen. Matt Dolan are ultimately vying for Democrat U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) seat, but the primary race has already been filled with contention, as Moreno has exposed the pro-amnesty positions of his challengers during public forums.
Declaration of candidacy and signed petitions are due December 20, and Moreno has filed for paperwork to formally appear on the ballot for the Buckeye State’s Republican primary race, taking place March 19, 2024. Due to his current position as Secretary of State, LaRose’s office is innately involved with working the boards of elections to “ensure the voter signatures on candidates’ petitions are valid,” per the Columbus Dispatch. As a result, Moreno’s campaign is asking LaRose and staffers to recuse themselves from the verification process due to the risk that he could use his office for political gain by “unfairly denying his political opponents access to the ballot or seeking retribution.”
Moreno campaign manager David DiStefano pointed to what essentially amounted to a “threat” issued by someone the HuffPost described as “a source close to LaRose’s campaign.”
“As the behind-the-scenes jockeying for Trump’s affections continues, a source close to LaRose’s campaign suggested it would personally benefit Trump to go with the elections officer, for obvious reasons,” the report reads, quoting the source with what sounds like a political threat:
If you are the president and you are fighting four legal battles, most of them centered around the validity of the election — and you’re most likely going to be on the general election ballot in a state you cannot win the White House without — are you going to do anything to antagonize the guy counting the votes?
The individual added that the campaign would take Trump’s endorsement “in a heartbeat” because it would end the race.
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Breitbart News reached out to LaRose’s campaign, inquiring if it stuck by the perceived threat and asking for clarification. It did not respond.
Andrew Surabian, an adviser to the Moreno campaign, highlighted the apparent threat on social media:
“Team Frank LaRose openly threatened President Trump to endorse him or risk ‘antagonizing the guy counting votes’ in Ohio,” he wrote. “Frank constantly abuses the power of the SOS office for his own personal benefit. He should recuse himself immediately from counting Senate ballot signatures.”
The news comes on the heels of Moreno, a Cleveland businessman viewed as a political outsider, differentiating himself from his opponents, calling for an “absolute zero tolerance policy” on illegal immigration moving forward.
Over the summer, Moreno sat down for a comprehensive interview with Breitbart News, speaking about the Republican establishment’s opposition to him. At the time, Moreno said the establishment fears him because they know he “can’t be bought.”
“They know that I’m not gonna go down to D.C. to just toe the line and the same old, same old. They know that I’m gonna go down there to actually change things, not just tweak things,” the Senate hopeful said.
“D.C.’s fundamentally broken…We don’t have a government that’s working for us the way it should be. So we’re really going to change things,” he continued.
“We need to change. Some people say, ‘We’re going to change the way Washington, DC, works. And, of course, if you’re the establishment, that’s a worst-case scenario,” Moreno added.
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Trump has yet to issue an endorsement in the Ohio Senate race, which very well could help determine the balance of power in the Senate. He did, however, mention Moreno by name earlier this year, describing him as a “highly respected businessman” in an April 2023 Truth Social post.