SIDNEY — Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and U.S. Rep. Mike Carey fired up a crowd of over 250 people on Tuesday evening at Shelby Oaks Golf Club.

The three were among many politicians who spoke during the Shelby County Republican Party’s “Meet the Candidates” night.

Moreno, a candidate for the seat currently held by Sen. Sherrod Brown, was a surprise guest at the end of the event. He traveled to the event on his campaign bus after speaking at a rally in Mercer County earlier in the evening.

Moreno and all other candidates spoke under a Trump/Vance sign on center stage and said this November’s elections are extremely important. They urged those in attendance to help with voter turnout.

“No military on Earth has ever existed that could do more damage to this country than what these lunatics — not even called Democrats — these lunatics are proposing to do this country,” Moreno said. “We now have a task before us for the next nine weeks, as we think about what that celebration is going to be about …to get out and vote and get others out to vote.

“… Tell everyone your vote does matter. This election is going to going to come down to the margins.”

Moreno is running for office for the first time; he secured the endorsement of former President Donald Trump and won March’s primary easily.

He told the crowd about his background, including being born in Colombia and immigrating with his parents (legally, he stressed). He owned several car dealerships in the Cleveland area, which he recently sold. He first began selling his dealerships when his wife Bridget was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Brown first won the seat in 2006 and has twice been reelected, including in 2018 when he beat Jim Renacci by about 300,000 votes.

“The Democrats are going to pour hundreds of millions of dollars over these next nine weeks, you’re going to see more TV ads than you can remember,” Moreno said. “I know your chairman would love for me to respond to every lie that Sherrod Brown says about me in my ads. Look, it’s all a lie. It’s easy. Look at what they said about President Trump.”

Moreno, who said he was inspired to run due to what he perceived as government overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, answered several questions from the audience before the end of the evening and posed for pictures outside the club house in front of his campaign bus. Among topics he covered was strengthening social security and the Veterans Administration, both of which he said could be helped by denying services to illegal immigrants.

Carey, R-Columbus, was first elected in 2021. He represents Sidney and southern Shelby County in the U.S. House. The county was formerly entirely in Jordan’s district, but after redistricting two years ago, the southern part of the county was included the 15th congressional district, which Carey represents.

Carey said after the redistricting, 70 percent of the 15th was different. The district formerly encompassed Madison County west of Columbus and much of southeastern Ohio and now stretches west from Columbus to northern Miami and southern Shelby County.

“That’s where you guys come into play,” Carey said. “We’ve reached out to Shelby, we’ve reached out to Miami, we’ve reached out to Clark County, and everybody we meet with… has the same goal. The number one goal is to make sure that Donald Trump is elected as president once again.”

Similarly to Moreno, Carey talked about his background to introduce himself. He served in the Ohio National Guard and worked in the fossil fuel industry. He won a primary in a special election in 2021 after securing a nomination from Trump.

“We’re a party of many ideas, and I think the thing that we have come together with, with President Trump, is he is leading the way,” Carey said. “And we need you. We need you in Shelby County, if you have friends in Miami, you have friends in Clark and all surrounding counties, tell them to get out and vote. We need your guys’ support.”

Jordan, R-Urbana, spoke in the middle of the event and covered a wide range of topics. He said he spoke with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week and thanked him for his recent endorsement of Trump and praised Elon Musk’s efforts in Brazil fighting to keep X (Twitter) operational.

“This new coalition that’s coming together around defense of our right to talk, our right to speak out critically government,” Jordan said. “This new coalition has come together is so darn important. It’s Elon Musk, it’s RFK Jr., it’s Tulsi Gabbard, and it’s President Trump.

“… When you look at history, it’s never the good guys who were for censorship. It’s always the bad guys who were trying to make sure people couldn’t say certain things.”

Jordan reiterated the importance of November’s election and said campaigning will increase in intensity in the coming weeks.

“It’s been basically a 50-day pep rally for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Jordan said. “… Pep rallies are great. They’re all kicks and giggles. Everyone’s undefeated at a pep rally. But then you’ve got to step on the mat. A little different when you actually have to get on the mat and wrestle.

“… It’s about time for Kamala Harris to play the game. That’s going to be seven days from today with the first debate, and she’s going to have to face the record for the Biden/Harris administration. …Open borders, $4 for gas under Biden/Harris when it was $2 under President Trump. We had safe streets under President Trump, record crime under Biden/Harris.”

Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose and state treasurer Robert Sprague were among those who spoke on Tuesday along with Kyle Koehler, a state representative from Springfield who is running for state senate, along with Ohio Supreme Court candidates Megan Shanahan and Daniel Hawkins.

Koehler led off the evening and spoke about the influx of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, which was among the most discussed about topics by those in attendance.

Clark County’s Job and Family Services has registered over 20,000 Haitian refugees in the last four years. Koehler said many are working part-time jobs and are living in tight quarters with many other refugees.

“The staffing company that started migration is owned by a man that has over 63 rentals in the Springfield area,” Koehler said. “Instead of getting the normal $600 to $800 a month for each rent, for each rental, he now rents cots for $250 a month in the rentals and puts 20 to 25 people in the homes.

“He charges them $25 a round trip to go to work each day, they work under contracts preventing them from being hired full time at the place of employment. This, and the barrier of not speaking English, causes them to become basically indentured servants, in my opinion.

Koehler said the influx has stressed local charities, government offices, schools and other resources.

“City, county estate leaders are overwhelmed with complaints that they can’t do anything about fixing. Last month, the group calling themselves the blood tribe, marched past a jazz and blues festival in my town carrying large swath stick of flags and rifles.

“Their leader showed up last week to the city commission meeting and publicly warned the mayor of the pending ‘sabbath savagery,’ if he didn’t stop to make great migration of Haitians in our community.

“… I understand these folks are fleeing a hellhole of a country run by gangs. They are thankful to be here. Our community simply cannot handle the influx of 20,000 new residents who do not understand our language, our culture, our laws, and are being treated again, in my opinion, as indentured servants.”

Koehler stressed the importance of November’s election and said more elected Republican officials will help lead to changing policies that allow for influxes of migrants.

“The good news is the answer lies in the hands of you voters,” Koehler said. “The good news lies in changing things in Washington. The good news lies in electing Bernie Moreno as our next Senator.”

Reach Sidney Daily News editor Bryant Billing at 937-538-4822, or follow @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook or @TopBillingSport on X (Twitter).