AP file photo Cleveland businessman and Republican Bernie Moreno campaigned in Boardman on Wednesday night in his quest to win the U.S. Senate race in November.

Bernie Moreno, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate from Ohio, said incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown has failed Ohio and is “trying to reinvent himself as something completely different” than what he is.

“He’s a complete liar,” Moreno said Wednesday about Brown. “He’s fake, he’s tired, he’s old just like the campaign he’s running.”

Moreno, a former car dealer and blockchain owner, is in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country against Brown, who is seeking his fourth six-year term in the Nov. 5 election.

Moreno, who started a six-day campaign tour of Ohio on Monday, was at the Mahoning County Republican Party headquarters in Boardman for a Wednesday night rally. Before that event, he spoke exclusively with The Vindicator and the Tribune Chronicle.

Moreno, who won the three-person Republican primary in March, said former President Donald Trump, the party’s presidential nominee in this election, “absolutely will campaign for me” in Ohio.

“I wear with honor that President Trump endorsed me, that J.D. Vance (Ohio’s other senator and Trump’s vice presidential running mate) endorsed me,” he said.

Moreno said if Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, “sets foot in the territory of Ohio or (President) Joe Biden, Sherrod Brown will run into his basement and hide because he’s trying to convince people in Ohio that he had nothing to do with them when in reality he’s a liar because he’s voted with them and supported them close to 100% of the time.”

Brown said he supports Harris’ presidential bid – and publicly called for Biden to withdraw from seeking reelection two days before he did – but has said he doesn’t plan to campaign with Harris.

Trump, who won Ohio in 2016 and 2020 by about 8% each time, is widely expected to win the state again in November. Democrats have written off Ohio, once considered the most important presidential swing state.

Moreno is loyal to Trump, despite being critical of him in the past. Moreno has claimed in other interviews during the senatorial campaign that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, a falsehood that many Trump supporters repeat.

During Wednesday’s interview, Moreno was asked about the 2020 election and why he congratulated Biden after the Democrat won.

Moreno said: “Any American should root for whoever wins the election for the president of the United States. You want them to succeed. So, yes, in November 2020, I congratulated Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because you want them to succeed. Americans should want their president to succeed. Now has he succeeded? Absolutely not. He’s been a catastrophically bad president.”

Under Biden, Moreno said, the southern border is open, there’s been “an assault on American energy, we’ve seen generationally high inflation, interest rates that are crushing working Americans, instability all over the world. We have crime that is rampant throughout this country. This country is weaker than it’s ever been because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Sherrod Brown has been right there with them enabling their agenda.”

Moreno did not address the stolen election claims.

Trump falsely claimed July 31 that Harris “happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?”

Harris’ mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican, and she has identified as black and Asian American.

Asked about Trump’s statement, Moreno said, “That’s all distraction. I didn’t take offense when The New York Times says, ‘I’m not Hispanic.'”

A May 12 Times article provided extensive details on Moreno’s Hispanic background including his ties to Colombia, where he was born.

Moreno said Trump’s comment about Harris “is not what people care about.”

Their concerns, he said, are about high prices at the grocery store and out-of-control inflation.

“Let’s not make this campaign about nonsense,” Moreno said. “This is a campaign about issues that people care about.”

Ohioans want a safe and secure border, “American energy dominance,” restoring the middle class, bringing manufacturing back to this country, reducing government bureaucracy, moving federal agencies out of Washington, D.C., and putting parents in charge of their children’s education, Moreno said.

“Let’s make this election for once about policies and an argument (as to) why your vision for the country is different than your opponent’s rather than the politics of personal destruction,” he said.

BUSINESS DEALINGS

Moreno’s business dealings were questioned by his two Republican primary challengers – Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan – and Brown is running commercials focusing on Moreno settling wage theft lawsuits after a jury in Massachusetts ordered him to pay more than $400,000 to two former employees for failing to pay overtime in violation of that state’s labor laws.

Moreno admitted in a deposition to destroying paper copies of monthly reports containing overtime information despite being told to preserve all records.

Moreno said Wednesday that “the commercial Sherrod Brown has about shredding documents is totally false,” and “we did nothing wrong. We followed the law.”

Moreno also said with thousands of employees he didn’t handle his own payroll, and it was done by ADP, one of the largest U.S. companies by revenue.

“They’re the ones that did it,” Moreno said. “It’s total and complete garbage.”

Moreno said: “I compare my record to any business person. In business, lawsuits happen. That’s why we have a court system. Sherrod Brown has to lie about it like he lies about everything else.”

Moreno said he was sued just five times in 15 years of business.

Brown’s campaign referred comments Wednesday about Moreno to the Ohio Democratic Party.

The ODP is following Moreno’s campaign around with an inflatable “fat cat,” which the candidate noticed.

“Sherrod Brown has to inflate stuffed animals in a parking lot because he can’t defend his record, and that’s not what people want to hear,” Moreno said.

Katie Smith, an ODP spokesperson, said: “The fat cat is out of the bag when it comes to Bernie Moreno’s long record putting himself ahead of workers. From stealing his employees’ wages and shredding evidence to trying to get out of paying them, to lying about selling Chinese-made cars at the expense of Mahoning Valley workers, Ohioans see that Moreno won’t fight for them because he’s only out for himself.”

Have an interesting story? Contact David Skolnick by email at dskolnick@vindy.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick.