Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has raised $5.7 million in the first two months of the year amid a contentious race as he tries for reelection to the Senate, his campaign announced.
The Friends of Sherrod Brown campaign now reports having $13.5 million on hand as three Republicans vie in the primary to take on the Democratic incumbent in November.
Businessman Bernie Moreno, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan are all battling for the GOP nod in a state seen as a top target by Republicans, who are trying to break Democrats’ razor-thin Senate majority.
“The gaggle of out-of-touch rich guys vying to take on Sherrod is no match for the thousands of supporters behind his reelection,” said campaign manager Rachel Petri.
According to year-end Federal Election Commission filings, Brown ended last year with more than $14 million in the bank, dwarfing LaRose’s $771,000, Moreno’s $2 million and Dolan’s $4.8 million.
Moreno has appeared to rise to the top of the GOP fight ahead of Ohio’s March 19 primaries.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, has said all the GOP candidates in the Ohio race are capable of beating the third-term incumbent, and the body is staying neutral in the state. But Daines also cautioned earlier this year that Republican contenders in Ohio and elsewhere face “some very strong incumbent Democrat senators who know how to win in red states.”
Former President Obama won Ohio in 2008 and 2012, while former President Trump won in both 2016 and 2020 — and Decision Desk HQ/The Hill’s polling averages of the battleground state show Trump, the GOP front-runner, with an 11-point lead over President Biden in a hypothetical 2024 match-up.