I didn’t get that the writer was a “Moderate”. What I got is that (if you read the whole article) he is saying that he is going to vote on PRINCIPLES - something a lot of people on this site won’t do, but rather look for the “electable candidate”, or “work with Democrats to be able to be liked by the media” and so on.
I think all those people are dumbasses. And this guy isn’t a “RINO” because he is acting exactly like we expect Conservative Republicans to act. Thus he is a Republican, and not in Name Only.