Ohio Primaries: Who Won and What's Next?

Turnout for Ohio’s March 19 primary was predictably abysmal, especially for Democrats who voted on a less-than-competitive ballot. Just over a million Republican ballots were cast, whereas only 500,000 voters showed up for the Democratic primary.

Trump and Biden win Ohio

Part of the draw for Republicans was the chance to weigh in on the already certain Republican presidential nomination. Former President Donald Trump scooped up every county in the state, which is unsurprising considering every other Republican on the ballot has suspended their campaigns. Trump will face President Joe Biden in November, but thousands of Ohioans sent a message to the current president by voting for Biden’s only challenger, Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips, who has dropped out of the race. In a similar spread to Michigan voters who chose “uncommitted” over Biden in early March, about 13% of the Democratic primary votes in Ohio went to Phillips, or about 68,000 votes.

The Senate race

But the race that really drew Republican voters and captured national attention was the race for a U.S. Senate seat that, if flipped, could give Republicans control of the Senate this fall. While early polling showed a large spread of undecided voters in this race, Republican primary voters ultimately chose Trump-endorsed Bernie Moreno to face the incumbent Senate Democrat Sherrod Brown. Moreno, a Cleveland businessman who said he’d push to deport every undocumented immigrant in the country, swept the state from Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose with about 50% of the vote. Dolan managed to lock down a respectable 32.9% of the vote, while LaRose landed at just 16%, or about 180,000 votes.

On X, LaRose conceded the race saying Republicans can now move on from the party in-fighting.

“While this is not my time to serve as our party’s nominee for the United States Senate, I’m profoundly grateful for those who gave me their support. The family disagreements that define partisan primaries are behind us,” he said.

Moreno took gleeful jabs at Brown during his acceptance speech, calling the three-term Senator an “old commie.”

“I wonder whether Sherrod Brown is going to wear with honor his 99% voting record with Joe Biden? Whether Joe Biden is the kind of person he likes to associate with? Because I would predict this if Joe Biden enters Ohio Sherrod Brown is gonna fly out of here like a scared cat, right?” Moreno told supporters.

Brown issued a statement after Moreno’s win, saying he’s going to keep focusing on Ohio workers and families.

“I’ll always work for Ohio — from standing up to special interests taking advantage of Ohio workers and corporations raising costs for families to making sure our veterans get the healthcare they earned.”

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Follow CityBeat's staff news writer Madeline Fening on X and Instagram.