A group of Ohio Republicans and independents said they won’t vote for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno following comments he made to supporters about women and abortion over the weekend. It brings the issue to the spotlight with less than 40 days to go in this tight race.
Moreno was speaking to supporters in Mason on Friday when he started talking about why abortion is a big issue for some women voters. His comments were recorded and the video was shared with reporters.
“You know, the left has a lot of ‘single issue’ voters. Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban woman, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else,’” Moreno said. “Ok. A little crazy by the way. But, especially for women that are like past 50, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you."
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Some of the women in the audience could be heard chuckling at Moreno's comments at the event. But the comments weren't so funny to some voters, like Lea Maceyko of Cardington. She said as a woman over 50, she finds the comment to be disrepectful.
“Not only does he want to disregard women’s right to our private personal medical decisions, but he’s also making fun of people for caring about our rights and the rights of others. And frankly, I just don’t think that’s very funny," Maceyko said.
Tammy Krings, an independent voter from Pataskala, said she’s upset that Moreno won’t accept the will of 57% of Ohioans who voted for abortion rights last fall.
“Bernie Moreno wants to just toss that out the window," Krings said. "He does not understand this assignment. And the assignment is to execute on what we decide. He has decided he wants to do it his way.”
And it's not just women who are reacting to that comment. Republican Ed Dunn, an Air Force retiree who lives in Beavercreek, said he is a lifelong Republican but he never fully votes along party lines. Dunn said he found Moreno’s statements about women and abortion to be out of line.
“You don’t have to be a woman over 50 to feel strongly about women’s reproductive rights. That’s why I find Mr. Moreno’s statements very disrespectful – disrespectful to me personally, but really to all women in my life," Dunn said.
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The voters were brought together to talk about Moreno's remarks by the campaign of incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Dunn said he doesn't trust Moreno because of this issue and some others. He said he does trust Brown, even though he doesn't always agree with him.
"We don't see eye-to-eye on everything as you can expect but I trust him much more than Mr. Moreno to listen to, understand and act in the best interest of Ohioans," Dunn said.
Moreno’s campaign reiterated the written statement offered earlier in the week. Spokesperson Reagan McCarthy said: "Bernie was clearly making a tongue-in-cheek joke about how Sherrod Brown and members of the leftwing media like to pretend that the only issue that matters to women voters is abortion. Bernie's view is that women voters care just as much about the economy, rising prices, crime, and our open southern border as male voters do, and its disgusting that Democrats and their friends in the leftwing media constantly treat all women as if they're automatically single-issue voters on abortion who don't have other concerns that they vote on."
McCarthy did not address a question about whether Moreno would vote for a national abortion ban if it were to come before him.
