Bernardo Moreno (born February 14, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who is a United States Senator-elect from Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, he defeated Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in 2024. When he takes office on January 3, 2025, he will be one of the first two Colombian American U.S. senators, along with Ruben Gallego of Arizona.

Moreno was born in Colombia to a family that soon immigrated to the United States, where he grew up in Florida. After attending the University of Michigan, he began a career in business. In 2005 he moved to Ohio, where he ran several car dealerships, mostly in Greater Cleveland, before becoming involved in blockchain companies in the late 2010s. He first sought office in 2022, when he ran for the U.S. Senate, but withdrew before the Republican primary.

Moreno was born in Bogotá, Colombia, on February 14, 1967.^[1][2] His father, Bernardo Moreno Mejía, was a physician and held high-ranking positions in the Colombian government. When Moreno was five, the family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was raised.^[3] His father worked as a surgical assistant, and his mother was a real estate agent. Moreno became a U.S. citizen at age 18.^[4]

Moreno attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.^[5] After it was publicized that his Cleveland Foundation boardmember bio falsely said that he also had a Master of Business Administration degree, his Senate campaign blamed the error on “a staffer who made a mistake”.^[6][7]

After college, Moreno worked at General Motors.^[8]
At 26, he moved to Massachusetts^[9] to become the general manager at The Herb Chambers Companies, a car dealership for the General Motors division Saturn.^[10]

He relocated to Ohio in 2005 and bought a Mercedes-Benz dealership in North Olmsted near Cleveland.^[11][12][13] Moreno was the president of the Collection Auto Group, a car dealership company.^[14] By 2016, he owned more than a dozen dealerships, mostly located in Ohio.^[15] In 2019, he began to sell a number of his dealerships to focus on his new blockchain-based technology company, Ownum.^[16]

In 2018, Moreno established the Sales Center for Excellence at Cleveland State University.^[17] In 2019, Moreno was elected to the Cleveland Business Hall of Fame^[18] in Cleveland Magazine.^[19]

Moreno was appointed to the board of trustees for the MetroHealth System in October 2019.^[20]

In 2023, Moreno settled over a dozen wage theft lawsuits prior to launching his U.S. Senate campaign. He was ordered to pay over $400,000 to two former employees. He was rebuked by a state judge for shredding documents potentially related to the case.^[21]

A March 2024 report found that Moreno had faced two lawsuits alleging gender and age-based discrimination; Moreno’s campaign responded by saying both employees who sued him supported his Senate campaign.^[22]

In April 2021, Moreno entered the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to replace the retiring incumbent Rob Portman.^[23] On February 3, 2022, Moreno dropped out of the race, reportedly after meeting with Donald Trump.^[24]

On April 10, 2023, Moreno filed paperwork to run for Ohio’s Class I U.S. Senate seat in the 2024 election.^[25] Donald Trump endorsed Moreno in December 2023.^[26] Moreno won the Republican primary on March 19, 2024, defeating Matt Dolan and Frank LaRose.^[27]

In the run-up to the Republican primary in March 2024, an Associated Press report found that an account on adult website Adult FriendFinder had been created by someone with access to Moreno’s email, soliciting “men for 1-on-1 sex”. Beyond the work email, the profile listed Moreno’s correct date of birth, while geolocation data indicated that the account was set up for use in a part of Fort Lauderdale where property records show Moreno’s parents owned a home at the time.^[1] In a statement Moreno’s lawyer provided to the Associated Press, a former intern said he wrote the post and called it an “aborted prank”.^[28]

Moreno will be sworn in on January 3, 2025, as a member of the 119th United States Congress.

Moreno opposes abortion, describing himself in a 2022 interview as “Absolute pro-life. No exceptions.”^[29] In 2023, Moreno’s campaign revealed that he had personally donated $100,000 to Protect Women Ohio Fund, the campaign against Ohio’s 2023 abortion-rights referendum.^[30] At a March 2024 Republican primary debate, he voiced support for exceptions for rape, incest and when the woman’s life is in danger.^[31] At that debate, he also expressed support for access to contraception.^[32][33] He later expressed opposition to the Right to Contraception Act and said that he would have voted with U.S. Senate Republicans to block the bill. A spokesman said Moreno “supports comprehensive access to birth control for women but not the far-left gimmicks in this bill.”^[34] He supports a federal 15-week ban on abortions.^[35]

Before his Senate campaign, Moreno expressed his support for the LGBT community, with his business sponsoring the hosting of the 2014 Gay Games by Cleveland and Akron. In a 2016 interview, Moreno credited the TV series Modern Family as having changed perceptions on same-sex marriage, noting that his eldest son is gay.

During his 2024 Senate run, he accused supporters of LGBT rights of “advancing a radical agenda of indoctrination”.^[36]

Moreno has said energy is a top priority, expressing support for using coal, and oil, extracting natural gas, as well as building more nuclear plants.^[37]

On immigration, Moreno has expressed support for building a wall on the United States Southern Border, deploying military personnel on the border, and designating Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Moreno has also repeatedly called for an end to birthright citizenship.^[38][39] In 2016, he expressed support for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, saying “we need to help them come out of the shadows”,^[40] but now supports deporting them.^[41]

Moreno has called for an end to U.S. support for Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. He has expressed support for Israel and has said Israel needs to “end Hamas — end it like we ended ISIS.” After the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Moreno argued Israel does not need any additional funding from the United States.^[42]

Moreno in 2016 described Trump as a “lunatic invading [the Republican Party]” and said he could not support a Republican Party led by “that maniac”.^[43] He wrote in a tweet that he had written in a vote for Marco Rubio in the 2016 presidential election.^[44] During a 2019 radio interview, Moreno said, “there’s no scenario in which I would support Trump.”

By 2024, Moreno was a supporter of Trump, receiving his endorsement for Senate that year and saying, “I wear with honor my endorsement from President Trump.”^[45]

After the 2020 presidential election, Moreno criticized those denying the results of the election, but in 2021 expressed his belief that the election had been “stolen”.^[44]

Moreno previously expressed support for background checks for gun owners and in a 2019 interview said “What gun do you need with 100 bullets in it?” When asked about these remarks, a spokesperson for his campaign said in 2024 it was “unequivocally” not his position today.^[41]

In 2023, Moreno said that reparations should be paid to the descendants of Civil War soldiers who helped to free slaves.^[46]

Moreno and his wife, Bridget, live in Westlake, Ohio, and have four adult children.^[47] His daughter Emily is married to congressman Max Miller.^[48] In August 2024, Miller filed for divorce.^[49]

His brother, Luis Alberto Moreno, is a former Colombian Ambassador to the United States and is currently a member of the board of trustees at the World Economic Forum.^[50]

• Campaign website
• Appearances on C-SPAN