WASHINGTON — For Republicans eager to regain the Senate majority this year, Ohio offers a prime opportunity to win a critical seat.
But ahead of Tuesday’s primaries, fears are growing within the Republican Party that Bernie Moreno could emerge with the nomination. After vaulting into the top tier of contenders with Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement, Moreno — who has gone from a public supporter of LGBTQ rights to a tough opponent — is facing questions about the existence of a 2008 profile looking for ‘Men for 1-on-1’. -1 sex” on a website for casual sexual encounters called Adult Friend Finder.
“Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” reads a caption on a photoless profile under the username “nardo19672,” according to an Associated Press review of data made public by a large-scale and well-publicized data breach of the website. Records also show that the profile was last accessed about six hours after it was created.
The AP review confirmed that someone with access to Moreno’s email account created the profile, although the AP could not definitively confirm whether it was created by Moreno himself. Questions about the profile have been circulating in Republican circles over the past month. On Thursday evening, two days after the AP first asked Moreno’s campaign about the account, the candidate’s lawyer said a former intern had created the account as a prank. The attorney released a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”
“I am deeply ashamed of an aborted prank I pulled on my friend and former boss, Bernie Moreno, almost 20 years ago,” Ricci said. The AP could not independently confirm Ricci’s statement and he did not immediately respond to messages left for him at multiple phone numbers listed for him. He donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, according to campaign finance records.
Moreno’s attorney, Charles Harder, insisted Moreno “had nothing to do with the AFF bill.”
Ohio, once a leading swing state, has moved sharply to the right in recent years. Trump easily won the state in 2016 and 2020, and the Republican Party, along with both chambers of the Legislature, controls the highest offices statewide. That has raised hopes among Republicans that Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown will not be able to overcome the headwinds that have largely swept his party from power in Ohio.
And because Republicans are just one seat away from a Senate majority if they also win the presidency, the results in Ohio could have major implications for the balance of power in Washington.
The dynamic has raised the stakes for Trump, who sided with Moreno in a crowded field that also includes Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Secretary of State Matt Dolan. Trump will appear with Moreno at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday.
In a statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung accused the media of being “obsessed with anyone who supports the America First movement.”
Moreno’s potential vulnerability has sparked frustration among senior Republican operatives and elected officials in Washington and Ohio, according to seven people directly familiar with discussions about how to handle the matter. The people requested anonymity to avoid clashing with Trump and his allies. They described concerns surrounding Moreno’s candidacy as so acute that some party officials sought a review of the records to determine his possible involvement.
That review linked the profile to Moreno’s work email address, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The AP’s independent investigation came to the same conclusion. The AP obtained data from the Adult Friend Finder breach, as well as information that remains publicly accessible on the company’s website. An analysis of that data shows that the profile was created and verified by someone who had access to Moreno’s work email account.
In addition to the work email, the profile lists Moreno’s correct date of birth, while geolocation data indicates the account was set up for use in a part of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where property records show Moreno’s parents owned a home at the time. The account’s username – nardo19672 – appears to refer to Moreno’s full first name, Bernardo, and the year and month of his birth in February 1967.
“This is a striking example of how this data doesn’t just disappear,” said Jake Williams, a leading cybersecurity researcher and a former National Security Agency offensive hacker. data from Adult Friend Finder.
Harder also provided a statement from Helder Rosa, a former vice president of Bernie Moreno Companies, stating that Ricci was an intern in November 2008 and that people in such positions had duties that included checking emails. Rosa has donated $12,400 to Moreno’s two Senate campaigns, according to campaign finance records. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Moreno, 57, was born in Colombia to a wealthy family before immigrating to Florida as a child and becoming a U.S. citizen at age 18, according to a biography on his website. He bought his first car dealership in 2005 and used his wealth to build an empire that included high-end dealerships in multiple states.
And before Moreno began voicing anti-LGBTQ views during his bid for public office, he made comments that seemed to reflect acceptance of homosexuality.
When Cleveland and Akron won their bid to host the 2014 Gay Games, an Olympics-style international competition featuring LGBTQ athletes, Moreno was an enthusiastic supporter while his car dealership was a financial sponsor, according to an op-ed article he wrote for the business publication Crain’s Cleveland company.
“A successful Gay Games would go a long way toward strengthening our image as cities that welcome all,” Moreno wrote, calling on Northeast Ohio’s philanthropic community to rally behind the event. “They need help attracting them. Organizing a complex event with multiple locations requires a network of financial supporters and volunteers. It has to be a community effort.”
During a 2016 question-and-answer session on his company’s YouTube page, Moreno noted that his eldest son is gay while crediting the TV show “Modern Family” with changing perceptions about same-sex marriage.
“We looked at these two guys and we said, ‘You know what? They’re good guys, they’re great people. … They’re not this twisted thing that exists out there.” And I think these are the kinds of ways you can break stereotypes,” Moreno said at the event.
When flyers calling on gay and transgender students to commit suicide appeared on the campus of Cleveland State University in October 2017, Moreno, who was then chairman of the school’s board of trustees, was the main signatory of a letter condemning condemned the “abhorrent message” as “an attack on our entire campus.”
As recently as 2020, his companies were included on a list of Ohio companies that supported a law banning discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Leaders of Equality Ohio, a leading LGBTQ rights group in the state, said Moreno joined the campaign in support of the legislation after speaking with the organization’s leadership in 2017 at an event promoting the bill.
But all that seemed to change when Moreno first ran for Senate in 2021 before dropping out of the race early. He began to distance himself from his past activism and claimed to be unfamiliar with anti-discrimination laws, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported at the time.
During his current Senate campaign, Moreno has accused LGBTQ rights advocates of promoting a “radical” agenda of “indoctrination.” He is endorsed by Ohio Value Voters, a group that opposes LGBTQ rights, including gay marriage. And his campaign’s social media accounts have portrayed his opponents, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan, as proponents of a “radical trans agenda.”
A recent TV ad paid for by Buckeye Values, a pro-Moreno super PAC, superimposes a photo of LaRose over a rainbow flag while attacking him as “a champion for trans equality.” The ad cites LaRose’s previous endorsement of a bill — which Moreno’s company previously supported — that would ban discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
“Can you trust Frank LaRose?” a narrator asks, also criticizing LaRose for making positive statements in the past about Equality Ohio, a prominent gay rights group. Moreno supported the same legislation through his companies.
Donald Trump Jr. later posted the ad on
Moreno’s shifting rhetoric on LGBTQ issues “is really a shame,” said Maria Bruno, director of public policy for Equality Ohio, which advocates for LGBTQ rights. “Anyone who compromises their value system just to win elections loses a lot of credibility.”
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Associated Press data journalist Larry Fenn contributed to this report from New York.