New U.S. Senator-elect Bernie Moreno may have beaten Sherrod Brown in Tuesday’s election, but the Republican lost two-thirds of the vote in Cuyahoga County, which both candidates call home.
Moreno plans to make the rounds in Northeast Ohio to mend fences as he prepares to take office in January. The senator-elect talked with reporters about his plans at an Ohio Chamber of Commerce post-election event Thursday.
Moreno said he’s working to set up meetings with local interest groups, including asking Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough, businessman Gus Hoyas, and Beachwood City Council Member June Taylor to arrange meetings with Cuyahoga County mayors, local Latino community leaders and local Black community leaders, respectively.
He also said he wants to meet with KeyBank CEO Chris Gorman to get up to speed on issues facing banks and with University Hospitals CEO Cliff Megerian to try to meet with state hospital executives. He also said he’s moving back to Westlake after temporarily relocating to the Columbus area for the duration of his campaign.
Moreno brought up his local listening tour plans when he was asked what he would do to connect with people who didn’t vote for him. The election results solidified Ohio’s reputation as a red state, but millions of Ohiaons voted for Democratic candidates.
Moreno said he was especially struck by his lack of support from Hispanic voters.
“I’m the only Hispanic ever to win an election statewide in Ohio, and more Hispanics didn’t vote for me than voted for me. That’s terrible. So I’m very self-reflective on that,” he said. “Saying, what are some things that I can do? Why don’t you think I would represent you? And I’ll start doing that around Ohio.”
An earlier version of this story misspelled Cliff Megerian’s last name. It has been corrected.
