This week, as the American political conversation focused on the Republican National Convention and Donald Trump’s election as vice president, political campaigns reported their second-quarter campaign finance reports. In the primary race for U.S. Senate in Ohio, Republican rival Bernie Moreno’s campaign reported raising about $6.8 million between two fundraising committees. That’s a little more than half of what U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown raised during the same period.
Key figures
Brown’s campaign raised $12.8 million in the second quarter and enters the summer with $10.7 million in cash. Brown’s committee has no outstanding debt. In a statement, Brown’s campaign manager Rachel Petri described his “unprecedented grassroots support” and pointed to his record of protecting pensions and reproductive rights.
Significantly, amid sedate questions about President Biden’s candidacy, Petri also emphasized that Brown “has defied presidents of both parties to block unfavorable trade deals that rob Ohio workers.”
A little more than $4.6 million of Brown’s funds this quarter came from the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue. The average contribution was about $120. Brown also raised about $1 million from various PACs, including several tied to other senators, labor unions and the banking industry — Brown chairs the Senate Banking Committee.
Moreno raised money through two vehicles: a standard campaign committee and a joint fundraising initiative called Team Moreno.
The latter combines Moreno’s main committee, the Ohio Republican Party, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which supports GOP Senate candidates across the country, and the Best at Bringing Entrepreneurial Results Never Imagined or Envisioned PAC. That title, with a bit of clever initial-work, spells out “BERNIE PAC.” The arrangement allows Moreno’s team to get bigger checks by combining each organization’s maximum donation amount, then splits the proceeds after the fact.
This joint effort has been a key lifeline for Moreno’s campaign. In the second quarter, his primary campaign committee brought in $4.4 million. But just over $2 million of that came from transfers from the joint fundraising committee. In terms of direct fundraising, Moreno’s primary committee raised only about $1.9 million.
In a statement, Moreno campaign manager Bryan Gray highlighted the scale of their support.
“We are grateful for the support of Ohioans in all 88 counties who are ready to fire Sherrod Brown and send an outsider to the Senate,” Gray said. “Bernie will not be outworked and will continue to deliver a clear message of a growing economy, secure borders and American energy dominance across our state while Sherrod Brown runs away from his terrible voting record with Joe Biden almost 100 percent of the time.”
Interestingly, even with transfers from the joint fundraising committee, Moreno’s main organization is underwater. The candidate previously loaned the committee $4.5 million of his own money, and the committee reports $4.4 million in cash.
Expenses
If this sounds familiar — a up-to-date Republican candidate who has a indigent fundraising record against an entrenched Democratic incumbent — that’s because it is. And the latest example shows that money pouring in over the summer doesn’t determine the outcome in November.
In 2022, former Democratic congressman Tim Ryan raised millions more than his Republican opponent J.D. Vance won comfortably in November, and things have been going pretty well for him lately.
#OHPol:”Extreme liberal Sherrod Brown voted like Biden 99% of the time.”
Bernie Moreno’s Latest Film #OHSen TV ad ties Brown to Joe Biden.
Future ad bookings:
Campaign:
🔵20.8 million dollars
🔴396k dollars
Total:
🔵$95.6 million
🔴93.5 million dollars photo:twitter.com/ObZ7cWned9— AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) July 16, 2024
A massive reason Vance was able to get into the race was the lend a hand of outside groups like the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC controlled by former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that aims to promote Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate.
Outside groups have spent relatively little on the Ohio campaign so far, but they have poured more energy into Moreno. In total, the organizations have spent nearly $3 million supporting Moreno and another $2 million attacking Brown. Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity leads the pack with about $2.5 million spent so far. Buckeye Values PAC, a super PAC supporting Moreno, has spent about $1.4 million on ads attacking Brown.
By comparison, the Moreno campaign spent less than $1 million on television, digital and direct mail advertising during the quarter.
On the other side of the race, outside groups spent only about a quarter of a million dollars supporting Brown. Instead, his campaign spent more than $14 million on various forms of campaign advertising.
But outside spending is sure to play a much larger role in the race as Election Day approaches. The race in Ohio could decide control of the U.S. Senate, and both Republican and Democratic groups appear poised to spend massive to get their candidate into office. According to ad tracker AdImpact, groups on the right and left have booked more than $90 million in airtime ahead of the election.
Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.
