Comments from Ohio’s Republican candidate for U.S. Senate are being blasted by critics, though his campaign has said they were "a tongue-in-cheek joke".
At a meeting in Southwest Ohio with his supporters over the weekend, Northeast Ohio businessman Bernie Moreno talked about women and abortion. An attendee at the event recorded his comments and shared them with Columbus TV station WCMH.
“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.’”
As some in the crowd laughed, Moreno added, “Oh, thank God my wife didn’t hear that one.”
But as the tape has come to light, a lot of people weren’t laughing, including Dr. Lauren Beene with Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights.
“It’s disrespectful and it shows that he just doesn’t understand this issue,” Beene said.
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown shared Moreno's comments on social media, writing: "You know what’s crazy… Bernie Moreno thinking he knows better than 57% of Ohioans who voted to protect abortion rights last year."
In a statement, Moreno's 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."
Republican political strategist Bob Clegg defended Moreno’s comments, saying the candidate is focused on the economy, inflation and immigration.
“Those are the issues that voters not only here in Ohio but nationwide care about the most,” Clegg said. “I think that was the point he was trying to get across and he just did it in an inartful way.”
But the issue of abortion has been a sticky one for Republicans as many of them, including former President Donald Trump, have sent mixed messages about where they stand on the contentious issue and whether they support a national ban. Ohio is among several Republican states that have passed amendments guaranteeing abortion rights.
