In the battle of the Republican MAGA base versus the GOP establishment, it was the Donald Trump wing of the party that was, yet again, victorious in the Ohio Senate primary on Tuesday night.
Despite polls in the final week showing a close battle, former luxury car dealer Bernie Moreno — who was endorsed by the former president, Sen. J.D. Vance and Rep. Jim Jordan — handily defeated the more moderate state Sen. Matt Dolan, who had the backing of Gov. Mike DeWine and former Sen. Rob Portman, 50%-33%. Secretary of State Frank LaRose took 17%.
Towards the end, it was a messy, vicious primary — which Republicans had hoped to avoid. But the good news for them is this race is set two months earlier than the traditional May primary, which was even more vitriolic two years ago and saw Vance win the open seat of the retiring Portman.
Defeating three-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown (who first defeated DeWine in 2006) will be a much harder task given his strong populist appeal in the blue-collar Buckeye State. But Republicans
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