Burley Garcia|Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Bernie Moreno faults rival for distancing himself from Harris

LANCASTER,Burley Garcia Ohio (AP) — Republican Bernie Moreno blasted Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown as he followed his campaign bus on its tour across Ohio Friday, accusing his rival of trying to distance himself from Vice President Kamala Harris despite many shared policy positions.

Speaking to about 75 people over coffee and doughnuts in the city of Lancaster, the Trump-endorsed Cleveland businessman said Brown’s intention not to campaign with Harris as she makes her bid for president flies in the face of the pair’s long-term political alliance. That included Harris visiting Ohio to raise money for Brown’s 2018 Senate campaign and musing during her truncated 2020 presidential campaign about making Brown her running mate.

This year, Moreno said, Brown is instead pitching himself to voters as if he’s a moderate, bipartisan Trump supporter.

“If Kamala Harris steps foot into Ohio, Sherrod Brown’s going to run into his basement and tell Connie (Schultz, his wife) not to answer the door,” Moreno said, to laughter.

Since Brown last ran, the former bellwether state has tagged strongly to the right, twice supporting Republican Donald Trump for president by wide margins.

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That led him, even before Harris became the nominee, to distance himself from President Joe Biden’s administration by highlighting his work — including with the state’s junior senator, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance — on bipartisan bills and legislation he sponsored that Trump signed into law.

Brown — a third-term senator, former congressman and former Ohio secretary of state — is banking on his long record and strong name recognition to secure crossover votes in November.

Given the short time frame of this year’s presidential race, and Ohio’s current politics, it’s unlikely that Harris will make any campaign stops in the state anyway.

Moreno told supporters Friday that the contrast between Republicans and Democrats this year couldn’t be clearer, particularly when it comes to immigration policy, the economy, energy and Social Security.

“This election is not like any other that we’ve had in American history,” he said.

Democrats have been following Moreno’s tour around the state to stage protests aimed at portraying him as an anti-worker “fat cat,” citing lawsuits over wages and overtime filed over the years against his businesses. That’s as Brown campaigns as a pro-union supporter of “the dignity of work.”

Moreno also asserted repeatedly at Friday’s event that he doesn’t expect his campaign to get fair treatment from journalists, who he said “do everything in their power to twist the facts.”

Among other things, he took issue with media portrayals of Vance since the fellow Ohioan was selected as Trump’s running mate. He said Vance, known for his best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” is not “weird” — as he’s been characterized — but “the nicest, kindest human being with an incredible story.”

Laurie Groves, a local Republican who attended Friday’s event, said she feels the energy for Moreno rising and looks forward to campaigning for him.

“I own a business, and I very much like someone who’s owned businesses, who’s made it by the sweat of their brow and who knows what it’s like to work hard,” she said. “And I think that’s Bernie Moreno right there.”