Millions spent on campaigns

SANDUSKY — The seven Republican candidates seeking the U.S. Senate party nomination in Ohio spent more than $40 million in the primary campaign, while the two Democrats seeking their party's nomination spent about $8.8 million. If you're thinking you heard much more of Josh Mandel, Mike Gibbons, Jane Timken, J.D. Vance, Tim Ryan or other senate candidates in TV and radio ads than what you think that combined total would buy, you're right. The $22.8 million spent by the nine senate candidate campaign committees doesn't include so-called "dark money." According to the Center for Public Integrity, dark money is money whose origin cannot be traced back to the donor. Politically active non-profits can receive tremendous amounts of donations and use them to buy ads for or against candidates and issues. Political finance watchdog Open Secrets reported that Per Aspera Policy, a dark money group associated with billionaire Peter Thiel, sent more than $10 million to a political action committee that supports J.D. Vance. Open Secrets reported outside groups, such as PACs and SuperPACs, spent more than $22 million either supporting or opposing Vance. In total, these groups spent more than $40 million on the primary. Of the eight PACs that spent more than $1 million each on the primary, seven espouse conservative ideals. Protect Ohio Ideals PAC, one of the conservative groups, spent more than $12.6 million supporting Vance, and nearly $1.3 million opposing Mandel. More than $22 million was spent in primaries for Ohio's 15 House of Representatives districts. The Nina Turner, D-11th District, committee spent $6.8 million and the Jim Jordan, R-4th District, committee spent more than $5.6 million during the primary election cycle. In primaries for Ohio's 9th congressional district — stretching through parts of Erie and Ottawa counties — the three Republicans and one Democrat spent just over $1 million combined, not including any potential dark money spending. Spending on campaigns for U.S. Senate seats is especially high as the two major parties vie for control of the upper chamber of Congress. The U.S. Senate is split down the middle 50/50. The two Independent senators, Bernie Sanders and Angus King usually vote with the 48 Democrats. The Vice President, Kamala Harris, may cast a vote in the event of a tie. Thirty-five senate seats are up for election in November. Fourteen are held by Democrats, 21 by Republicans. Ohioans will vote on one of the state's two senate seats in November. The office is currently held by Republican Sen. Rob Portman. He is not running for reelection. The winners of the May 3 primary will face off in the Nov. 8 general election. That means millions more will be pumped into radio, TV, and direct-mail advertising by candidate committees, PACs and dark money groups. In the 2018 election, for example, Friends of Sherrod Brown spent over $23.5 million. Brown's opponent, Jim Renacci, saw his committee burn through more than $8.8 million. Ohioans, in November, can choose between Republican J.D. Vance, Democrat Tim Ryan, Libertarian Dominic LaCavera, and four others, for U.S. Senate. Nominees for the 9th District race include incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur, Republicn J.R. Majewski and Independent Youseff Baddar. Top spenders during the primary election cycle for the Senate seat were Gibbons for Ohio, Dolan for Ohio, Jane Timken for Ohio, and Tim Ryan for Ohio. These four candidate committees spent more than $40 million. Tim Ryan won the Democratic nomination. The candidates represented by the other three top spending committees lost in the Republican primary. According to FEC filings, JD Vance for Senate, Inc., spent a mere $1.8 million. On a dollar per vote basis, the Vance committee spent $5.38 and the Ryan committee spent $22.05, but dark money makes those figures not representative in any real sense. Mike Gibbons' committee spent the most in the U.S. Senate primary cycle at more than $17 million. He placed 4th in the Republican primary with an unofficial vote total of 123,417. The committee spent more than $139 per vote. In the Republican primary for Ohio's 9th congressional district, winner J.R. Majewski spent more than $194,000 for his 20,891 votes, or $9.31 per vote. Craig Riedel, who finished second, spent more than $344,000 for his 17,769 votes, or $19.39 per vote. Marcy Kaptur ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination for the House seat. Her committee spent more than $372,000 on the primary cycle through April 13. Senators are elected for six-year terms, bringing the total salary over the course of one term to $1,044,000. Six of the committees for those running for U.S. Senate spent more than that. Mike Gibbons' committee spent more than 16 times the total six-year salary for a Senator. Editor's note: Vote totals are unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State's office as of May 11.