GOP candidate Bernie Moreno raises $4M toward Ohio primary bid challenging Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown

Bernie Moreno, a U.S. Senate candidate vying for the Republican nomination to take on three-term incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown next year, has raised $4 million by the end of the third quarter, according to his campaign, and $3 million of that amount has come out of his own pocket. 

The wealthy Cleveland businessman who’s received praise from former President Donald Trump also announced he has about $5 million in cash on hand. 

His campaign provided those figures in a press release obtained by Fox News Digital Tuesday — ahead of the Oct. 15 disclosure deadline with the Federal Elections Commission.

Moreno, who made headlines earlier this year for suggesting reparations for White descendants of Civil War soldiers at a campaign stop, is one of the first major Senate Republican candidates to reveal his campaign haul for the third quarter, which spans from July 1 to Sept. 30.

Moreno previously said he raised nearly $2.3 million in the second quarter. It’s his second bid for the U.S. Senate after a short-lived primary run in 2022. 

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“I am proud of the more than $1.1M in fundraising our campaign has done this quarter, and proud to put my own skin in the game with an initial investment of $3M,” Moreno said in a statement. “Our campaign is in the strongest position to win the primary and beat Sherrod Brown next fall. I’m grateful for the support of Ohioans in every part of this state, and look forward to fighting alongside them in this campaign, and for them in the U.S. Senate.”

Trump, who played a key role in throwing support behind candidates in the midterms, praised Moreno in a TRUTH Social post in April but has not yet endorsed a candidate in the 2024 race. 

“Word is that Bernie Moreno, the highly respected businessman from the GREAT STATE of OHIO, and the father-in-law of fantastic young Congressman, Max Miller, is thinking of running for the Senate. He would not be easy to beat, especially against Brown, one of the worst in the Senate!” Trump wrote. 

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Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, considered a top ally to Trump, endorsed Moreno in May. 

“Thrilled to endorse Bernie Moreno for senate. He’s a good friend, a job creator, and will be a fantastic senator. We’d make a hell of a team!” Vance wrote on X, then Twitter at the time. 

Besides Moreno, considered a political outsider, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, are also vying for the GOP nomination to take on Brown. Roll Call considers Brown one of the most vulnerable Democrat incumbents in the 2023 election.  

Both Moreno and Dolan have the ability to self-fundraise by dipping into their own fortunes. In the 2022 race, Moreno reported more than $3 million in self-financing, according to Politico.

Moreno’s campaign said Tuesday he has now raised more than five times what his nearest competitor, Dolan, raised from donors in his first two full fundraising quarters. Moreno’s second fundraising quarter also outpaces the amount he raised from donors in the second quarter of his 2022 campaign by nearly $500,000, according to the campaign.