The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Next Tuesday is Election Day in Ohio, and the final batch of campaign finance reports sets the stage for what could be close race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. Entrepreneur Bernie Moreno has seen a burst in fundraising from individuals since picking up former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. But the campaign finance picture gets more complicated with candidates’ personal fortunes and well-funded outside interests thrown into the mix.
Meanwhile, millions of dollars have poured into Ohio’s GOP primary at the Statehouse.
Whoever emerges on the Republican side, however, will face a well-funded Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. The incumbent senator seeking a fourth term in office is walking into the general election with $13.5 million in cash on hand — more than five times as much as his closest Republican challenger. His campaign also has no outstanding loans.
Although Brown doesn’t face a primary challenge, he isn’t just twiddling his thumbs while the Republicans duke it out. During the reporting period, he spent more than $3 million on television ads and another $1 million on digital advertising. He even dropped close to half a million bucks on direct mail.
Running for the Republican nomination to face Brown in November are state Sen. Matt Dolan, businessman Bernie Moreno, and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Bernie Moreno
The former car salesman from the Cleveland area has pulled away from his Republican competitors in individual contributions. During the first two months of 2024, he raised $1.1 million, while LaRose and Dolan brought in about $350,000 and $275,000 respectively. Moreno also loaned his campaign another $1.2 million, bringing its total debt to $4.2 million.
Moreno got contributions from political action committees representing builders and contractors as well as from the private prison operator the GEO Group. Conservative U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, and Rand Paul, R-KY, cut him checks as well.
Although Moreno’s campaign cracked a million dollars in contributions, that didn’t keep up with his expenses over the two-month period. He reported spending roughly $2 million — about three quarters of which went to campaign ads.
In terms of outside spending, groups backing Dolan and LaRose plowed more than $3 million into ads attacking Moreno. But Moreno has gotten some outside help of his own. The Club for Growth, a conservative dark money group, has spent $3 million promoting Moreno or attacking Dolan.
Frank LaRose
Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State raised roughly $350,000 through the end of February, but the latest filing depicts a campaign that’s outgunned by its competition. Moreno and Dolan both report $2.3 million in cash-on-hand. LaRose has less than $600,000.
The almost $15 million Moreno and Dolan have loaned their campaigns explains that discrepancy, but the source of the money doesn’t change the math. To compete, LaRose has relied on outside spending to get his message to voters. During the reporting period, LaRose’s biggest expense was $139,000 for digital fundraising. A handful of line items relate to digital ads, but he doesn’t list a single television ad buy.
Instead, the Leadership For Ohio Fund, has spent liberally to prop up LaRose and attack Moreno. Since the beginning of this year, the super PAC has spent more than $5 million on advertising. About $3 million went to ads supporting LaRose’s campaign, while another $2.2 million covered ads attacking Moreno.
Oddly enough the guy paying for those Moreno attack ads was also a major contributor to the group currently backing Moreno. The Illinois billionaire and conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein contributed $3 million to the Leadership For Ohio Fund — more than 60% of its war chest. During 2023 alone, however, Uihlein gave $8.7 million to the Club For Growth, which is supporting Moreno. He also poured millions into the campaign last summer to make it harder to amend Ohio’s state constitution.
Leadership For Ohio Fund began its life as 527 political organization raising money for LaRose while he was not officially running for office. It’s at the center of an FEC complaint alleging LaRose abused the “testing the waters” period to raise money for his eventual bid with fewer reporting requirements.
Matt Dolan
Dolan, of Chagrin Falls, raised just $272,000 while spending $4.75 million during the reporting period. Nearly all of that — more than $4.3 million — went to television ads.
Dolan was able to burn through cash at that rate because of his considerable personal fortune. As of the latest report, Dolan has loaned his campaign $9 million. That’s more than double what Moreno has lent his campaign.
And the Dolan family’s wealth isn’t just apparent in candidate’s loans. Dolan’s parents, Larry and Eva, contributed $1 million each to the super PAC Buckeye Leadership Fund. So far that group has spent $3.5 million on ads backing Dolan and attacking the field.
The bulk of Dolan’s fundraising came from individuals, but he did pick up a $5,000 contribution from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce PAC.
