Ohio GOP candidate uses anti-recording technology to combat 'trackers' in key Senate race

• Bernie Moreno is hoping to oust Sen. Sherrod Brown in a race that will determine control of the Senate.

• He invited event attendees to record him – and recently got into trouble for it.

• Now his campaign is using anti-recording technology against “trackers” who try to record him.

While campaigning for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, Bernie Moreno – the Republican tasked with defeating Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in a race that will help determine which party controls the Senate – At times, participants in his events were expressly invited to host 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 tape or videotape everything I say, feel free to do so.”

But Moreno's campaign team recently took an unusual step to make his words much harder to capture: It is using a device that appears to emit an ultrasonic frequency that drowns out audio recording devices with a strange noise.

In videos and audio provided to Business Insider by the Ohio Democratic Party, employees of the GOP candidate can be seen holding the device in front of “trackers,” people hired by campaigns and political parties to identify candidates follow up and occasionally ask questions.

Moreno's campaign confirmed the use of an anti-recording device in a statement to BI, but said the device would only be used against trackers and not regular event attendees.

It's unclear exactly what device the Moreno campaign is using, but it's similar to a microphone jammer that's available online for about $400.

The campaign's use of the anti-recording device comes after Moreno was secretly recorded at the same town hall in Warren making comments he perceived as derogatory toward suburban women who are prioritizing abortion in voting.

“You know, the left has a lot of individual voters,” Moreno said at the event. “Sadly, by the way, there are a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women who say, 'Listen, abortion is the right thing to do. If I can't get an abortion at any time in this country, I will vote for anyone.' different.'”

“It's a little crazy, by the way,” he continued, “but especially with women who are over 50, I'm like, 'I don't think that's a problem for you.'”

Brown has echoed those comments in the weeks since, calling the former car dealer unsympathetic to women in a race where abortion plays a big role. Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley even chimed in, writing on X: “Are you trying to lose the election?”

When Reagan McCarthy, a spokesperson for the Moreno campaign, acknowledged the campaign's use of the device, she attacked the Ohio Democratic Party in a statement to BI.

“If the ODP staff had carried these around, they might not have been caught calling Ohio voters racist for wanting to close the border,” McCarthy said, referring to a recent secret recording that shows As one of the party's employees blames “pure racism” for making immigration a losing issue for the Democrats.

It's quite common in campaigns of both parties to hire trackers to monitor their opponents, especially in high-stakes races, in the hopes of catching a gaffe or faux pas.

For example, the National Republican Senatorial Committee—the Senate Republican campaign committee—regularly posts videos online in which stalkers stalk Democratic senators and Senate candidates in the hallways of Capitol Hill, at airports, and at campaign events.

In some cases, candidates and their campaigns have even become intimate with their supporters and posted photos of them on social media to troll their opponents.

However, by using technology to prevent recording at his events, Moreno has taken a more aggressive stance toward pursuers than other candidates typically do, suggesting he wanted to deny his opponents the opportunity to record his statements.

Read the original article on Business Insider