The leading candidate in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary has been linked to a profile on a gay hookup website, sparking in-party fears that he could cost them the race.
Entrepreneur Bernie Moreno is one of three men running to face off against Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in the fall. So far, Moreno is the front-runner, and his far-right stances opposing abortion access and LGBTQ rights have earned him an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
But in 2008, someone used Moreno’s email address to make an account seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex” on the casual sex website Adult Friend Finder, the Associated Press reported late Thursday.
“Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” the bio reads. The account, which does not have a profile picture, goes by the username “nardo19672.” This appears to be a reference to Moreno’s first name, Bernardo, and the year and month of his birth, February 1967.
The AP was able to confirm that the linked email address is Moreno’s, through a review of AFF records that were leaked during a data breach. The AP was unable to confirm whether Moreno himself made the account, only that someone with access to his email did. Records also show the last time the profile was accessed was about six hours after it was created.
Moreno’s campaign told the AP that a former intern, Dan Ricci, had created the account as a prank. Ricci also provided a statement saying he made the profile as “part of a juvenile prank.”
But senior Republican operatives and elected officials in both Washington and Ohio are worried that the account’s mere existence will taint Moreno’s candidacy beyond repair. Seven people described the rampant frustrations to the AP, which got so bad that some Republican Party officials requested a formal data review to see if Moreno really was linked to the account. That review found the profile had been made with Moreno’s work email.
The Ohio race is highly contentious, as control of the Senate hangs in the balance. If Republicans manage to flip Brown’s seat, they could also flip the chamber. And so far, the party has struggled to put forward a solid contender.
Before Moreno took the lead, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose was expected to clinch the GOP nomination in the primary next week. LaRose, of course, suffered a humiliating defeat last year, when state residents voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. LaRose had pulled out all the stops to block the abortion referendum but was overwhelmingly turned back.
Beyond Moreno’s link to a queer sex website, voters may also be put off by his flip-flopping on LGBTQ rights. Moreno’s oldest son is gay, and he expressed support for LGBTQ rights and anti-discrimination legislation as recently as 2020.
But starting in 2021, when Moreno first ran for Senate, he began to distance himself from his past positions. During this campaign, he has spouted common Republican talking points, including accusing LGBTQ rights advocates of pushing a “radical” agenda of “indoctrination.”
Moreno was endorsed by the anti-LGBTQ group Ohio Value Voters and accused LaRose of backing a “radical trans agenda.” He even ran an ad calling LaRose untrustworthy because he was “left-wing” and “pro-trans.”
