Tipsheet

No, A Trump-Backed Ohio Senate Candidate Wasn't Fishing Around on an Adult Website

Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno was slapped with an embarrassing attack ad to derail his campaign. It does reek of desperation, but the final days of this primary have turned into a circus, with Moreno, Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan, and Secretary of State Frank LaRose all trading blows before the March 19 primary. The drama has caught the eye of Senate Democrats, who rolled out ads supporting Moreno.

In some states, ensuring the pro-Trump candidate wins to make things easier for Democrats, the general election could work in a purple-ish state. That’s not Ohio, which is Trump's country. A super PAC backing Dolan issued ads attacking Moreno’s alleged activities on the site, but they might need to pull them since this story has imploded in less than a day. Even the founder of Adult Friend Finder, Andrew Conru, said this was likely a prank. 

"I reviewed all the available information and it showed that the account had only a single visit, no activity, no profile photo, consistent with a prank or someone just checking out the site. That's it," he said.

If Moreno wins, he’ll face incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is running for re-election in a state quite different from the one that first elected him to the Senate in 2006.