The car dealership business has been an early focus in a key 2024 U.S. Senate race.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) first ad of the general election focuses on Bernie Moreno, his Republican Senate opponent in the November election, that has dealers in the state pushing back at the incumbent.
According to a report from Cleveland.com, Brown’s “Say Anything” 30 second ad intersperses clips of Moreno, appearing in commercials promoting his former network of Cleveland-area car dealerships, with news headlines that describe Moreno stretching the truth. “You couldn’t trust him as a car dealer, so why would you trust him as a senator?” says the narrator.
2024 Ohio Senate Race
The ad is the first negative one of this campaign from Brown, a longtime Democrat who has reserved more than $41 million in ads through the November election, that aired statewide.
The “Say Anything” ad cites articles that describes how Moreno took credit for ending an academic program criticized as having ties with the Chinese government as a trustee for Cleveland State University, even though the university didn’t end the program until after Moreno left its board.
The Ohio race is considered one of the more pivotal ones in this election cycle. The Cook Political Report is characterizing the race as one of three toss ups this year (all held by Democrats) in the U.S. The race has attracted more outside spending than any other congressional race this cycle and is the third most expensive congressional race in terms of campaign fundraising—totaling $65 million as of the end of the first quarter of 2024.
Moreno Backers
Moreno, a political newcomer, founded a successful network of car dealerships before exiting the industry in 2019. Supporters of the GOP candidate fired back at Brown for airing a “despicable” ad.
“Sherrod Brown’s comments—aimed at earning cheap political points—are a slap in the face to hardworking Ohioans in the auto sales industry across our state,” said Tim Glockner, president of Glockner Chevrolet in Portsmouth and the most recent Ohio nominee for NADA dealer of the year.
Joseph Chapman of Chapman Ford added, “thousands of Ohioans are employed in various capacities across the auto industry, and our senior senator chose to mock our jobs on the airwaves. Sherrod Brown has never had a job outside of government and has no idea what it takes.”
Ohio Automobile Dealers Association’s Letter
Besides the partisan responses, the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association (OADA) decried the ad as being “extremely dismayed” by the ad.
In a letter printed in the Columbus Dispatch signed by Zach Doran, OADA President, wrote the ad “took a stereotypical swipe at car dealers as somehow inherently dishonest and untrustworthy. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“Politics can get heated and personal,” Doran wrote. “On behalf of Ohio’s hardworking auto dealers, I hope that future political debate focuses on issues of substance and policy rather than taking undeserved shots at an entire profession.”
