Trump-endorsed Bernie Moreno wins Ohio primary: Live

CNBC reports that there are fears that clean energy tax credits brought in under President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act could face the axe if the Republican Party sweeps the 2024 elections at the congressional and presidential level, putting Donald Trump back in the White House.

The GOP unanimously opposed the legislation and has repeatedly threatened to repeal it, arguing that it is too costly.

However, solar industry CEOs believe the tax credits will prove durable because they support manufacturing in Republican districts.

Republican lawmakers have a recent history of being vocally against Biden administration initiatives — notably in infrastructure — before then claiming credit for local benefits such as new roads or bridges in their districts.

Nevertheless, some analysts note that the risk of repeal is being underestimated by investors…

At one stage of the process, this might have been major news but not now, as the Republican and Democratic nominees-presumptive took five steps further towards the inevitable with more wins in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Arizona on Tuesday.

John Bowden has the highlights of what was, nevertheless, a busy day in those states.

Bernie Moreno decisively won the GOP nomination for US Senate in Ohio on Monday, the second candidate to be essentially carried to victory by former president Donald Trump in the state in two years.

He’ll join the other Republican with that distinction, JD Vance, in Ohio’s US Senate delegation next January if he is able to beat incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in the fall.

Moreno actually ran against Vance in the last election cycle but withdrew to clear the way for his one-time rival after the Hillbilly Elegy author won Trump’s endorsement that year.

Tuesday evening’s victory is a sign of Trump’s continued endorsement strength — particularly in the Midwest and in states where he has less directly clashed with state Republican leaders.

It remains far from an absolute shot at victory — just ask David Perdue, the failed 2022 candidate for governor in Georgia — but a potent force in the Republican Party nonetheless.

Here’s more analysis from John Bowden.

A strong performance among voters who cast their ballots on Tuesday — the day of the election in Ohio — powered Bernie Moreno to a win in the state’s GOP primary for the US Senate.

The Associated Press declared former car salesman Moreno the winner at 8:35pm EDT, when he led state Senator Matt Dolan 41 per cent to 37 per cent.

Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose was in third place with 22 per cent.

The AP was able to determine the winner by analysing not just the overall vote totals but also the methods in which voters cast their ballots.

Moreno built a sizable lead among votes cast on Election Day.

Since the issue of early voting became highly politicised after the 2020 presidential election, Election Day voting has tended to favor Republicans and conservatives, while votes cast before election day have tended to favour Democrats and moderates.

Dolan cast himself as the more moderate option in the primary and performed better in the state’s heavily Democratic areas as well as among voters who cast their ballots before Election Day.

When the first votes were reported, Dolan built a lead among pre-Election Day votes.

Over the next hour, Dolan’s lead among early voters shrank and as ballots cast on the day started to be released, Moreno overtook Dolan for the lead.

As more pre-Election Day votes were tabulated and with the bulk of the day’s vote yet to be counted, the prospects for Dolan retaking the lead dissipated.

Following former car salesman Bernie Moreno’s victory in Ohio, John Bowden writes:

“Bernie Moreno’s campaign just pulled off a victory with a last-minute boost from Donald Trump, who visited the state on Saturday and helped win many of the race’s undecided voters — who numbered as high as four in ten voters in some polling in the final week — to his chosen candidate’s cause.

“Republicans are now set to run an untested political novice against a three-term senator with national name recognition in one of the most important races set to determine the makeup of the Senate.”

Bernie Moreno, a former luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, scooped victory in the Ohio senate race despite weathering controversy late in his campaign.

The Associated Press reported last week that in 2008, someone with access to Mr Moreno’s work email account created a profile on an adult website seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex.” The AP could not definitively confirm that it was created by Mr Moreno himself.

Mr Moreno’s lawyer said a former intern created the account and provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month, sparking frustration among senior Republican operatives about Mr Moreno’s potential vulnerability in a general election, according to seven people who are directly familiar with conversations about how to address the matter.

They requested anonymity to avoid running afoul of Mr Trump and his allies.

Mr Moreno, a native of Bogota, Colombia, who partially funded his own campaign, rode to victory after casting himself as a political outsider, who — like the former president — would go to Washington to shake things up. He and allied political action committees pilloried his GOP rivals Matt Dolan and Frank LaRose as “career politicians.”

He built his fortune in Cleveland in luxury auto sales and blockchain technology.

A car dealership owner is the Republican nominee for US Senate in Ohio, having won Tuesday’s primary election against an incumbent state senator and the Buckeye State’s elections chief.

Bernie Moreno was declared the race’s victor around 8.35 pm with 41 per cent of the vote.

Read the full story from John Bowden here:

A further special general election will be held in California in May after no candidate secured enough votes to take former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s congressional seat.

Republican Vince Fong, a California state assemblyman and former aide to Mr McCarthy, advanced to the runoff race for the 20th congressional district seat on Tuesday night, according to The Associated Press.

As of 3am ET on Wednesday morning, it was unclear which other candidate will join him in May.

Mr Fong has secured 40.8 per cent of the vote with 84 per cent of votes counted. County sheriff Mike Boudreaux, his most competitive challenger, is second with 26.2 per cent, followed by Marisa Wood with 23.1 per cent and Kyle Kirkland with 5.2 per cent.