Ohio Governor Mike DeWine speaks at a campaign stop at The Mandalay event center on November 4, 2022 in Moraine, Ohio. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Moderate former U.S. Sen. Rob Portman similarly weighed in late in the contest, endorsing Dolan on Friday.
DeWine's move is less likely to hurt Moreno, who has campaigned heavily on the Trump endorsement, than LaRose, a former Green Beret and second-term state officeholder who has been working to carve out a winning lane in the race.
LaRose frequently points out that Moreno and Dolan are millionaires, having self-funded their campaigns to the tune of a combined $10 million, while he is merely a "thousandaire." Moreno made his fortune in Cleveland, first building a luxury auto sales business and later in blockchain technology, which generates "blocks" of information or transactions into ledgers that are secure and transparent. Dolan's family owns baseball's Cleveland Guardians.
Moreno campaigned Monday throughout central Ohio with Trump-backed South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. He's also enjoyed support on the campaign trail from other big-name Trump allies, including Donald Trump Jr. His endorsements also include Ohio's Trump-backed Republican U.S. Sen. JD Vance, pro-Trump fighter U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
But DeWine's decision suggested such conservative backing may not be enough against Brown, a three-term senator who's been one of the state's most reliably elected politicians for decades.
DeWine, too, has such a legacy — having served as a former state legislator, congressman, U.S. senator and lieutenant governor. He won reelection by a 25% margin in 2022, carrying 85 of Ohio's 88 counties.
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Republicans view Brown, among the most liberal members of the Senate, as particularly vulnerable this year because of the unpopularity of the same-party president, Joe Biden, and Ohio's tack to the political right in recent years.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-gov-dewine-makes-endorsement-uber-competitive-senate-race