“Do you want to go back to the Romney, Bush, Cheney, Kasich, DeWine, Portman party?” was the question Ohio Republican U.S. Senate primary candidate Bernie Moreno asked as he stood before a crowd of supporters on March 17. They were gathered at the Little Miami Brewing Company Event Center in Milford, Ohio, packed together to hear Moreno speak for one of his campaign’s final events before the March 19 primary today.
He appeared alongside Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. J.D Vance and Arizona Senate candidate and election denier Kari Lake. “Democrats will vote like Democrats do, they never disappoint us,” Moreno said. “It’s Republicans that stabbed us in the back, that hold back the agenda.”
Denunciation of Republicans deemed insufficiently right-wing was a recurring theme throughout the evening. Although Donald Trump endorsed Moreno, Gov. Mike DeWine and former U.S. Sen. Rob Portman have expressed support for state Sen. Matt Dolan in the Republican primary, while Senate Democrat PACS are paying for Pro-Moreno ads. Also running in the primary along with Moreno and Dolan is Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Vance and others went after Dolan in their remarks to the crowd.
“That person is going to be the end of the Republican Party, and the end of this republic,” Vance alleged of Dolan.
Calling him “Mitt Dolan,” in a comparison to the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and Utah Republican U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney — who has been outspoken in his criticism of Trump — Kari Lake promised the audience “we’re gonna replace those kind of guys with people who put America First.”
An issue Moreno used to highlight his differences with other Republicans was Ukraine aid.
Alleging that Ukraine has a “dictator,” Moreno said, “We’ve learned, over the last fifty or sixty years, that endless wars help the elites and hurt the working class.”
Moreno attacked Dolan for his belief in giving aid to Ukraine, arguing “my obligation is to the people of Ohio, and then to the people of the United States of America.”
Harold Torrens, a 58-year-old attendee of the March 17 event, reflected Moreno’s sentiments: “The biggest thing for me is America First,” Torrens explained, believing that the United States should “stop being a globalist.”
Immigration was another topic of conversation, with speakers repeatedly mentioning the recent surge in border crossings.
“If we don’t get this right, this country doesn’t exist anymore,” said Vance, later saying “here’s why the Democrats want open borders, and why they’re willing to poison this country to keep those borders open: it’s all about votes.”
Vance stood against the border crackdown and immigration deal negotiated by stalwart Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford that was supported by the U.S. Border Patrol union.
Vance’s claims echo the so-called great replacement theory, which alleges that “political elites,” are encouraging immigrants to enter the United States to diminish the white population’s influence. The Buffalo, Christchurch, and El Paso shooters all used replacement theory rhetoric in their manifestos.
“When you import billions and billions of people, and you give them Congressional representation, you destroy the will of the people to govern their own country,” continued Vance.
Bonnie Weitfle, a 64-year-old attendee of the event, was more overt in her concerns.
“They’re raping our kids, and they’re raping our women, and they’re raping our men… they are evil people, and they’re paid to come over here,” she claimed.
Studies conducted by researchers at William & Mary, the University of California, and Stanford, have shown little correlation between immigrants and violent crime.
Later, Weitfle said the Biden administration was “part of the Rockefellers, Bilderbergs, Illuminati… these different humans who don’t care about life, they don’t care about children.”
Another guest, 45-year-old Jason Gulbrandson, claimed the United States has “more illegal immigration than any country, ever, in history, on planet Earth.”
Polls have shown a high number of undecided voters in the Ohio Republican U.S. Senate primary.
Asked what they would say to unconvinced Republican voters, 51-year-old Nicole Marin replied “I think he’s following in Trump’s footsteps and his policies,” pointing out Dolan specifically as someone she didn’t trust. “He does need to be on board with Trump, I’m not so sure that he is.”
59-year-old Mitchell Lach responded, “If Trump endorses Bernie Moreno, if J.D Vance is endorsing him, and Kari Lake is endorsing him, I’m voting for him.”
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.
