Bernie Moreno Celebrates Primary Victory: ‘We Have an Opportunity to Retire the Old Commie’

Trump-backed Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno celebrated his primary victory in Ohio’s primary race Tuesday evening, making it clear that Republicans now have the opportunity to “retire the old commie,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D).

Moreno defeated establishment Republican, State Sen. Matt Dolan (R) as well as Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in the Buckeye State on Tuesday. The Associated Press (AP) called the Republican Senate primary at 8:35 p.m. ET, with about 25 percent of the vote reported:

Moreno spent much of his victory speech thanking many people who supported him and his campaign, including former President Donald Trump.

“I also want to thank President Trump. I just got off the phone with President Trump. You know, the reality is we have an opportunity now,” Moreno said.

“We have an opportunity now to retire the old commie and send him to a retirement home and then save this country because that’s what we’re gonna do,” he said.

“And I want to thank President Trump for all he did for me, for this campaign, for his unwavering support, for his love of this country because I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody who loves this country the way he does. Thank you to President Trump,” he said, also thanking Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) for his support as well and offering kind words to his opponents.

But now, Moreno said, it is time for the party to unite and focus on taking down his Democrat opponent, Sherrod Brown.

“I think what we have to do now is, as a fully united party — understand we have one mission — which is to get rid of Sherrod Brown. And by getting rid of Sherrod Brown, we’re gonna get back to the United States Senate,” Moreno said. “And by getting back to the United States Senate, we’re gonna put this country back on track.”

“When we first got to South Florida when I was a kid — I was five years old — I thought was a field trip,” said Moreno, who was born in South America. He explained that he started “studying our founders and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention.”

“And it’s amazing because, in 1789, when Sherrod Brown went into D.C., I never thought we’d be here with him still in office,” he joked, pointing out that Brown has been in political office since Richard Nixon was president. Further, Moreno said Brown has never had a job in the private sector, either.

Chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) conducts the Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on “Examining the Failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank” in Washington on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“And what does he do? He says he advocates for working-class Americans, so let’s dissect that for a second,” he continued:

Under Sherrod Brown’s watch, China has gone from a $4 billion trade deficit to a $235 billion a year trade deficit with America. The middle class in this country has shrank under his watch. We’ve lost factory after factory under his watch. We are now, with his leadership, “so-called” of the Senate Banking Committee, we’ve seen an absolute obliteration of local and small and regional banks. That’s all happening under … Brown’s watch. This is a guy who is for unfettered immigration. He is an open borders radical. What does that do? Who does that hurt? It hurts the very people who he pretends to help. These are people who are getting crushed every single day at the grocery store, at the gas station. He’s all for this Green New Deal — this idea that all of us should drive an electric car or have whatever stove he tells us, to live in some small hut somewhere, while he, of course, he hangs out with his buddies in Martha’s Vineyard. That’s who Sherrod Brown really is.

Moreno also openly wondered if Brown will “wear with honor his 99 percent voting record with Joe Biden — whether Joe Biden is the kind of person that he likes to associate with.”

“Because I will predict this: If Joe Biden enters Ohio, Sherrod Brown is gonna fly out of here like a scared cat,” Moreno warned, ultimately predicting Republican victories in November and declaring that they will “get the America First agenda done.”