An Ohio Republican seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has suggested reparations for descendants of White Union soldiers.

Bernie Moreno, an ally of former President Donald Trump, was announcing his candidacy last week when he shifted to discussing how “White people died to free Black people” during the Civil War.

“It’s never happened in human history before, but it happened here in America. That’s not taught a lot in schools much is it,” Mr. Moreno said. “They make it sound like America is a racist, broken country. You name a country that did that, that freed slaves, died to do that. You know, they talk about reparations. Where are the reparations for the people in the North who died to save the lives of black people?”

A statement from Mr. Moreno’s campaign to the New York Post said he was trying to make a point about political correctness.

“Bernie was right when he said political correctness is killing our country, and the crocodile tears from the left expose the Democrat hypocrisy he was referring to in the clip,” the statement read. “However, it’s unsurprising that the liberal media missed his point, since they’ve been complicit with the identity politics charade for years.”

Mr. Moreno joins Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan, a Republican, in declaring their intent to unseat Mr. Brown in 2024.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.