The re-election campaign of Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, has been running this 30-second ad attacking his Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, on television stations across his state at a cost of nearly $1.3 million so far, according to AdImpact.
Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its major takeaway.
On the Screen
The ad opens with a view of the kind of suburban voter Mr. Moreno has criticized recently — and who could tip the scales in battleground races across the country: a woman who looks to be around 50, college educated and living comfortably. She sits behind a wooden coffee table on a plush leather couch in a spacious living room; tall windows with rich wood trim and leafy views serve as her backdrop. She is dressed casually, in a green button-down over a black shirt and jeans, and speaks directly into the camera over a light soundtrack of a quirky melodic line.
She utters only a few words before another woman appears in her place, then another and another — seven in all — each in the same spot, seamlessly taking turns delivering a broadside against Mr. Moreno over his remark at a recent town hall that older women who care about abortion rights are “a little crazy.”
A few headlines and the names of the publications in which they ran appear at the center of the screen, like reviews in a movie ad. “Bernie Moreno calls focus on abortion rights ‘a little crazy,’” reads one. “Moreno says abortion isn’t ‘an issue’ for women past 50,” says another. “Bernie Moreno has called for national legislation banning abortion,” warns a third.
The Script
FIRST woman
“Bernie Moreno thinks I’m a little crazy.”
SECOND woman
“Because Bernie Moreno thinks it’s crazy that women care about abortion rights.”
THIRD woman
“He says that for older women like me, it’s not really an issue.”
FOURTH woman
“And I’m thinking, Bernie, how is this an issue for you?”
FIFTH woman
“But Bernie Moreno’s against abortion even in cases of rape or incest.”
SIXTH woman
“And he’s for a national abortion ban to overturn how we voted in Ohio.”
SEVENTH woman
“Bernie Moreno, I am 100 years old, and I’m definitely not crazy.”
Accuracy
The first two headlines cited are quoted accurately; the third edits a quote but does not alter the source’s meaning.
Mr. Moreno, a wealthy former car dealer and political newcomer who rode the endorsement of former President Donald J. Trump to victory in a heated Republican primary, put the issue of abortion at the center of Ohio’s Senate race in September. Speaking at a town hall in Warren County, he lamented that many suburban women were “single-issue voters” on abortion rights, and suggested that older women should not care about access to the procedure because they were too old to have children.
“It’s a little crazy, by the way — especially for women that are like past 50,” Mr. Moreno said to laughter. “I’m thinking to myself: I don’t think that’s an issue for you.”
As recently as in 2022, Mr. Moreno described himself as “absolute pro-life,” with “no exceptions.” In 2023, he said he would vote for a 15-week national ban. But like many Republicans in hotly contested races, he is campaigning differently now. He has said he supports “common-sense exceptions,” which his campaign told PolitiFact include for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
The Takeaway
Mr. Brown, pursuing his fourth term, is one of only two Democratic senators vying for re-election in a state that Mr. Trump won in 2020. (The other is Senator Jon Tester of Montana.) This will likely be the toughest contest of his career. Ohio, once a national bellwether, has shifted to the right, and Mr. Brown’s race is shaping up to be among the most expensive Senate campaigns this cycle.
Mr. Brown is trying to keep the focus on abortion rights, an issue that Democrats see as a winner for them at every level in November. And Mr. Brown has been making the case that Ohio’s rightward tilt belies a more moderate electorate. Last year, voters in the state defeated a ballot measure that Republicans crafted to make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution. That was seen as a major victory for abortion-rights supporters trying to stop the Republican-controlled Legislature from severely curbing access to the procedure. Three months later, the state’s voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state’s Constitution.
By using a series of middle-aged suburban women — and one elderly one — to make the case against Mr. Moreno, Mr. Brown is making an effective appeal to voters like them, who could prove a critical bloc, to view Mr. Moreno as a condescending sexist to whom the best rebuttal is their common sense.
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