Labor unions backing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, in his reelection bid against Republican entrepreneur Bernie Moreno bashed the political newcomer Friday over plans to construct a car dealership north of Columbus.
Moreno has maintained for more than a year that he sold off business interests, including more than a dozen car dealerships he once owned in the Midwest, in preparation for political candidacy.
“I've sold all my operating businesses,” he said in November 2023. “I wanted to go to Washington, D.C., free of any conflicts of interest. No individual stocks, no individual bonds, no corporate holdings. I've made that sacrifice to run for the U.S. Senate.”
But Moreno sought and signed off on $40 million worth of Mercedes-Benz financing and bought a plot of property in Sunbury for the auto storefront, according to Delaware County Recorder's Office documents. NBC News originally broke the story.
Reagan McCarthy, a Moreno spokesperson, wrote in an email statement Friday there was “zero contradiction” between what Moreno has said and the potential dealership plans.
“The Sunbury dealership is not currently an operating company and is going to be run by Bernie's son,” McCarthy said. “This is an investment by Bernie in a business for his son, not a business for himself.”
Union leaders with the local AFL-CIO, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council and United Auto Workers held a news conference across the street from the future auto storefront Friday anyway. Behind them, basking in the sun, was a quintessential union mascot—the fat cat inflatable.
Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council, said it's not about the investments themselves.
“It's a free market economy,” Hager said. “But when he comes out and he wins the primary and he says he's going to focus 100% on his Senate run, and then if he gets elected, focus on the workers in Ohio, obviously that's a very dishonest statement ... It's going to be his name on the dealership, whether his son runs it or not.”
Less than two months from Election Day, Brown and Moreno are still in one of the tightest Senate races nationwide.
