CLEVELAND — In a video release talking of his arrival in the U.S. as a young child with his family from Cuba, businessman Bernie Moreno launched a run for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate speaking of his rise from immigrant to intern at General Motors to his rise in the auto industry as dealership owner expanding to the world of blockchain and digital currency.
"I've started new companies that created innovative technologies that improved people's lives and shared my successes with the community,” Moreno said.
Moreno enters a race for the Republican nomination to fill the seat of retiring Senator Rob Portman along with former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and also former State Republican Chair Jane Timken.
The three along with businessman Mike Gibbons were famously sat down by former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in February during a fundraiser in what was described as a meeting compared to both the Apprentice as well as the Hunger Games.
While Mandel and Timken are in the far right lane, Moreno likely to travel a different one.
"I think he brings in another goal which is really the business community,” said University of Akron’s Dr. John Green. “Business people often support the Republican Party with over all of the reasons with the idea of having one of theirs in office could be very attractive."
In a release Moreno said “I came from a country surrounded by the ideology of radicals like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, who promised to give everyone all they needed and solve all their problems--just like Bernie Sanders and AOC are doing today. If we’re going to protect this country from the socialist left and keep this precious idea built on the concept of freedom, then we need outsiders who back up their words with action.”
Moreno pledged not to take corporate PAC money, to fight back against “cancel culture’s attempts to silence conservatives,” and in favor of term limits.
The campaign also released a list of his Ohio Steering Committee which includes longtime Trump advisor Pastor Darrell Scott of Cleveland Heights.
