Ohio Republicans raise big money for re-election bids

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

Just this week, Friends of Larry Householder — the campaign account for the Ohio House speaker — wrote a check for $1 million to the House Republican Campaign Committee.

But that generosity didn’t even come close to wiping out Householder’s campaign war chest, which stands at $1.83 million. That puts him ahead of Gov. Mike DeWine, whose campaign account reported Friday that it has $1.8 million on hand as well as an outstanding $4 million loan owed to DeWine.

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Annual campaign finance reports, filed with the Ohio Secretary of State, give an accounting of money raised and spent since the end of July.

Incumbent Republican Ohio Supreme Court Justices Judith French and Sharon Kennedy raised $438,000 and $663,000, respectively. Their Democratic opponents Jennifer Brunner and John O’Donnell raised $60,000 and $16,000, respectively.

The two Supreme Court races are the only statewide contests this year.

All 99 seats in the House and half of the 33 seats in the Senate are up for election.

The House Republican Campaign Committee raised $1.84 million, including $1 million from Householder, and has $1.83 million on hand. The House Democratic Caucus raised $408,000 and has $601,000 on hand.

On the Senate side, the Republican campaign committee raised $1.8 million and has $2.65 million on hand while the Democrats raised $178,000 and have $221,000 on hand.

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Among the statewide executive officers, who are all Republican:

* DeWine raised $1.4 million, received $735,000 in in-kind support and has $1.8 million on hand. There has been no change — payments or forgiveness — of the outstanding $4 million loan DeWine made to his gubernatorial campaign.

* Attorney General Dave Yost raised $277,000 and has $505,000 on hand.

* Auditor Keith Faber raised $232,000 and has $300,000 on hand.

* Secretary of State Frank LaRose raised $306,000 and has $458,000 on hand.

* Treasurer Robert Sprague raised $162,000 and has $254,000 on hand. He also has a $35,000 campaign debt remaining from a $50,000 loan he made to the campaign.

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