What the money race looks like ahead of Ohio’s most competitive Congressional primaries

The U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

On Tuesday, Ohio voters will decide on the nominees for November’s election. The top of the ticket is already set — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump picked up enough delegates this week to secure their respective nominations.

On the Republican side, at least, the U.S. Senate race remains a toss-up between three viable candidates. And as you move down the ticket, the races are even harder to call. In Ohio’s 6th and 9th U.S. Congressional districts, voters will see three or four candidates on their ballots; in the 2nd congressional district they’ll see 11. Notably, the controversial 2022 nominee J.R. Majewski dropped out of his 9th district race, but he did so after voting had already begun.

While the contests include political newcomers and right-wing bomb throwers, voters will also see current and former state lawmakers with an established track record. And with three or more potential options, the eventual winners could clinch the nomination without coming close to majority support. When the potential margins are that narrow, a nudge here or there could make a difference. The candidates turned in their final fundraising reports late last week, giving a peek at how they’ve campaigned so far, and what they’ve got left in the tank for the homestretch.

OH-2

The sprawling southern Ohio congressional district fielded a dozen Republican hopefuls, eleven of which made the ballot. The candidates include sitting state lawmakers, political insiders, businessmen, and gadflies.

Perhaps the biggest splash in the race came from state Sen. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, who announced in early January that he’d raised more than $600,000 . Since then he’s burned through that cash. More than $350,000 went to flashy campaign ads — including one with a literal flamethrower — and he dropped another $160,000 on mailers. But after that initial burst, his fundraising has slowed. In the first two months of the year, he brought in about $56,000, or less than a tenth of what he sent out the door. Antani reported about $62,000 on hand ahead of the primary.

The candidates who are most flush, however, are also the ones who have done the most self-funding. Businessmen Larry Kidd, Tim O’Hara, and Dave Taylor have all loaned their campaigns more than $1 million over the course of the campaign. In each case, their campaigns’ fundraising figures pale in comparison to their personal loans.

Kidd runs a staffing agency and previously served as a county GOP vice chair. Of the three, he was the only one to raise six figures in the reporting period, but with more than $1.2 million in expenditures, he spent the most as well. Nearly all of that money went to ads, but he also paid his own company a little more than $3,000 for staffing services. He has a little more than $100,000 on hand.

Taylor runs a concrete company and O’Hara is a franchise operator; both raised more than $50,000. During the reporting period they spent $1.1 million and $825,000, respectively. Both campaigns report about half a million dollars on hand.

Comparing the candidates’ outstanding personal loans to their fundraising current fundraising presents a lopsided picture. Kidd’s loans outpace his fundraising by almost 10 to 1, while Taylor’s $1.7 million in loans is more than 30 times what his campaign raised during the reporting period.

Previously peripheral candidates turned up their fundraising during the reporting period, even if they couldn’t match the personal wealth of some of their rivals. Former gubernatorial candidate and state lawmaker Ron Hood raised more than $100,000 after reporting nothing in 2023, and state Sen. Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro, raised about $90,000.

Also notable, Derek Myers, who previously touted a $780,000 fundraising haul in a since-deleted post on X, didn’t file a report at all. In a letter, the FEC gave his campaign until close of business Thursday to file its report. As of Thursday evening, he did not appear to have met that deadline.

OH-6

Rick Tsai is an East Palestine chiropractor running for the GOP nomination in Ohio’s 6th Congressional district. (Photo courtesy of Rick Tsai.)

Along the state’s eastern border, a state senator, a state representative, and a local chiropractor are running to replace former U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson. His early exit to lead Youngstown State University means the candidates have a crowded electoral calendar. In addition to the primary and general election, they’ll have another election in June to determine who serves the remainder of Johnson’s unexpired term.

Dr. Rick Tsai, of East Palestine, decided to run because of his frustration with the government response to a Norfolk Southern train derailment there in early 2023. He’s got the endorsement of musician Ted Nugent and actor Scott Schwartz — as Flick in the movie A Christmas Story, Schwartz got his tongue stuck to a flagpole.

Tsai reported raising about $24,000, more than half of which came from donations of $50 or less. His biggest expense was ads — just on radio, rather than TV. Tsai spent a couple grand on yard signs, and a few hundred bucks on business cards and t-shirts as well.

State Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus, R-Paris Township, raised about $200,000 in the reporting period and spent nearly $250,000. Thanks to a quarter million dollar loan from the candidate, Stoltzfus has about 240,000 in cash on hand.

Several of his conservative colleagues in the Ohio House have helped him along, shelling out more than $8,000 from their campaign committees to bolster Stoltzfus’s fundraising. He also picked up $5,000 from a PAC connected with U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-OH, and $1,000 from one connected with U.S. Rep. Max Miller, R-OH. Stoltzfus spent just over $100,000 on advertising.

COLUMBUS, OH — FEBRUARY 08: State Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, during the Ohio Senate session, February 8, 2023, in the Senate Chamber at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)

State Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, outpaced Stoltzfus in fundraising and spending — reporting $275,000 coming in and $281,000 going out. But because Rulli has only lent his campaign about $30,000, he reported less cash on hand than Stoltzfus. Rulli also cracked $100,000 in television ad spending.

Rulli picked up a contribution from fellow state lawmaker Rep. Mike Loychik, R-Bazetta, but most of his fundraising from PACs was tied to interest groups. Carpenters, wholesalers and credit unions made contributions as well as former U.S. Representative and head of the Ohio Chamber Steve Stivers.

Notably, the leadership PAC run by Rep. Miller which gave to Stoltzfus, also made a donation to Rulli. The group, known as Dependable Conservative Leadership PAC, gave Rulli $2,000 in January, about a month before donating $1,000 to Stoltzfus.

OH-9

The Northwest Ohio district long represented by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-OH, has proven to be a bit of a soap opera. Political newcomer J.R. Majewski won the Republican nomination in 2022 because two more establishment Republicans split the vote. Despite getting beaten badly in the general election, Majewski said last April that he would run again.

He dropped out the next month, but not for the last time.

The toss-up seat is viewed by national Republicans as a potential pick up for the party. They grew a little nervous in the fall, when Majewski jumped back into the race alongside former state lawmaker Craig Riedel and former Napoleon mayor Steve Lankenau. After Riedel was heard on a leaked donor call being less than obsequious to former President Trump, Republican leaders panicked. Newly-minted U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson recruited state Rep. Derek Merrin , R-Monclova, to throw his hat in the ring.

Earlier this month, Majewski dropped out for the second time amid backlash over comparing Democrats to athletes in the Special Olympics who he described as “retarded.”

Riedel burned through more than half a million dollars in the reporting period — about $400,000 of that going to television ads. He had a lot of money to work with because back in 2022, he was one of the establishment Republicans Majewski beat in the primary. Riedel has been running ever since. At least up until the leaked donor call, he had stacked up several high-profile conservative endorsements and close to $1 million dollars in contributions. The Koch family organization Americans For Prosperity has also spent about a quarter million dollars advancing Riedel’s candidacy with independent expenditures.

COLUMBUS, OH — FEBRUARY 15: State Rep. Derek Merrin, R-Monclova (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)

Riedel has close to a quarter million dollars on hand, but that’s largely thanks to a $175,000 personal loan. Notably, during the reporting period Riedel also paid himself back $50,000 for a previous loan.

Merrin, meanwhile, led the pack in fundraising. During the first two months of 2024, he brought in close to $145,000, or basically double what Riedel raised. Merrin, who got a late start in the campaign, has also been the beneficiary of substantial outside spending. The Congressional Leadership Fund, controlled by Speaker Johnson, has put more than $750,000 behind Merrin’s bid. In terms of dollars at least, that puts Merrin on level footing with Riedel.

Like Stoltzfus, Merrin’s donors include several conservative state lawmakers. Many of them were Merrin’s allies in a 2023 Ohio House speaker vote that didn’t go his way.

Lankenau raised almost $10,000 and spent close to $30,000. He’s loaned his campaign a little more than $50,000.

Although Majewski had dropped out, he still had to file with the FEC. He pulled in 84,000 in donations and spent about $140,000. Majewksi hasn’t loaned his campaign any money, so the $68,000 he has on hand could fund a future campaign of his own or support other candidates. For instance, former U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, left office in 2021, but is still using his old campaign account to sprinkle donations among candidates. At its last report, Stiver’s committee reported $213,000 left on hand.

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

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