Nonpartisan PolitiFact says Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno's ad attacking U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on immigration is false

A new political advertisement from Bernie Moreno, the Republican running for U.S. Senate in Ohio, was declared “false” by the Poynter Institute’s nonpartisan PolitiFact this week.

Moreno’s political ad, released in August, attacks his opponent, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on the issue of immigration, saying, “For nearly 50 years politician Sherrod Brown helped create the crisis at our southern border, voting with radicals like Kamala Harris to give illegals taxpayer funded stimulus checks, healthcare, even social security. Rewarding illegals,” according to the video paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and authorized by Moreno.

Brown’s campaign in August denied all of those claims, which other Republicans have used against other Democrats in recent years and all of which have been debunked in fact checks by various news organizations including the Associated Press, the Washington Post, PolitiFact and FactCheck.org.

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PolitiFact asked Moreno’s campaign for the source of the ad’s claims and was directed to votes Brown made in 2007, 2013 and 2021. PolitiFact’s review of those votes determined Moreno’s claims were false and misleading.

“The three votes Moreno’s campaign cited would not have provided any federal benefits to immigrants in the country illegally. The American Rescue Plan already barred them from receiving stimulus checks. Federal law already prohibited them from qualifying for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program and barred them from buying insurance through the federal exchange,” according to PolitiFact.

“Moreno also misleads on Brown’s vote regarding Social Security. The vote would not have granted benefits to immigrants who are in the country illegally, but would have changed the allocation from immigrants who later received legal status,” PolitiFact said.

Poynter Institute is nonprofit that focuses on journalism ethics, media training and literacy and does political fact-checking. The fact checks can be found online at PolitiFact.com.

ExploreImmigration key issue in Ohio Senate, presidential races: Here are the facts

“Independent fact checkers verified that Bernie Moreno is lying about Sherrod’s record, just like he lied about his ‘rags-to-riches’ upbringing, about selling Chinese-made cars, and even about how many times he’s been sued for refusing to pay his employees,” Brown campaign spokesman Matt Keyes said on Wednesday.

The campaign for Vice President Harris, the Democrat running for election against Republican former President Donald Trump, did not respond to a request for comment on the Moreno ad naming her.

Reagan McCarthy, Moreno campaign spokeswoman, responded to the PolitiFact findings by saying, “This ‘fact-check’ is the liberal media covering up for Sherrod’s clear pro-illegal, anti-American worker agenda that they’ve been complicit in. Sherrod has been caught giving our money to illegals.”

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