Moreno was appalled by Donald Trump’s rise. Even after Trump consolidated the nomination in 2016, Moreno refused to be associated with that outcome. He acknowledged that Trump could beat Hillary Clinton. He didn’t care. In protest, he ceased making donations to the national Republican campaigns. “Given that I see a future where trump [sic] is the leader of what used to be my party, I’ve sidelined myself,” he wrote to a fundraising consultant. “I will support individual candidates, but can’t support a party led by that maniac.” Trump, he added, was a “lunatic invading the party.”

In debates and speeches, Moreno sometimes allowed glimpses of his earlier, more reasonable, less polarizing self to emerge. But more often, he scrambled to match the rage and resentment trafficked by the two front-runners, Josh Mandel and J. D. Vance. “This is an intentional invasion of our country,” Moreno said of asylum seekers at the southern border in an October 2021 candidates’ forum. He applauded when Mandel declared that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from Trump…

But some of the candidates have weaker gag reflexes than others, and can better choke down all the toads that need to be swallowed to be viable in post-Trump Ohio politics. Moreno could not fake sufficient toad-eating enthusiasm, and so he’s out. But even in defeat, the humiliations have not ceased.

Moreno ended his campaign by flying to Mar-a-Lago. In a written statement, Moreno explained that the race contained too many “Trump candidates,” and pledged his support, not to the winner of the vote, but to whichever candidate earned Donald Trump’s endorsement. In return, he received a condescending pat on the head.