Bernie Moreno is hoping to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown in a race that will help determine control of the Senate. He invited those in attendance to record his voice – and recently got himself into an embarrassing situation as a result. Now, his campaign is deploying anti-recording technology against him. “Trackers” trying to record him.
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While campaigning for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat, Bernie Moreno — the Republican tasked with defeating Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in a race that would help decide which party would control the Senate — sometimes explicitly invited attendees at his events to register him.
“You know my rules: Nothing is off limits,” Moreno said at a town hall event in Warren, Ohio, in late September, in a video seen by BI. “If you want to videotape anything I say, you are welcome to do so.”
But Moreno’s campaign recently began taking an unusual step to make his words more difficult to catch: deploying a gadget that appears to emit an ultrasonic frequency that cloaks audio recording devices with strange noises.
In videos and audio recordings provided to Business Insider by the Ohio Democratic Party, the GOP candidate’s staff can be seen holding the device in front of “stalkers,” individuals hired by campaigns and political parties to follow candidates and sometimes ask questions. .
Moreno’s campaign acknowledged using an anti-logging device in a statement to BI but said the device was only being used against trackers, not regular event attendees.
It’s not clear exactly what device Moreno’s campaign is using, but it is similar to a microphone jammer available online for about $400.
The campaign’s use of the anti-registration device comes after Moreno was surreptitiously recorded at the same town hall in Warren making comments seen as dismissive of suburban women who prioritize abortion when voting.
“You know, the left has a lot of single-issue voters,” Moreno said at the event. “Unfortunately, by the way, there are a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women saying, ‘Listen, abortion is everything. “If I can’t get an abortion in this country whenever I want, I’ll vote for anyone else.'”
He continued: “It’s a little crazy, by the way, but especially for women over fifty, I say to myself: I don’t think this is a problem for you.”
Brown seized on those comments in the weeks that followed, calling the former car dealer unsympathetic to women in a race where abortion looms. Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley even wrote on X: “Are you trying to lose the election?”
In acknowledging the campaign’s use of the device, Moreno campaign spokesman Reagan McCarthy took aim at the Ohio Democratic Party in a statement to BI.
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“Maybe if DPP staffers carried these things they wouldn’t get caught calling voters in Ohio racist for wanting to close the border,” McCarthy said, referring to a recent hidden recording that allegedly shows a party staffer blaming “pure racism” for “racism.” Conclusion. Which makes immigration a lost issue for Democrats.
It’s fairly common for campaigns in both parties to hire trackers to monitor their opponents, especially in high-stakes races, in the hopes of spotting a misstep.
For example, the National Republican Senatorial Committee — the Senate Republican Campaign Committee — frequently posts online videos of tailgating Democratic senators and Senate candidates in the halls of Capitol Hill, at airports, and at campaign events.
In some cases, candidates and their campaigns became aware of their followers and posted photos of them on social media to trick their opponents.
My tracker is back in Omaha😀. He raises his hand saying he will definitely vote for Bacon. 🙋♂️ pic.twitter.com/c066XLXRBc
– Don Bacon 🇺🇸 🥓 ✈️ 🏍️ ⭐️ 🎖️ (@DonJBacon) October 3, 2024
But by using technology to prevent recording at his events, Moreno has taken a more aggressive stance toward trackers than other candidates, suggesting a desire to hinder his opponents’ ability to record his statements.
