Trending
With the primary for the vacant 6th Congressional District seat a week away, state Sen. Michael Rulli raised $275,189 to $203,881 for state Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus in the latest reporting period.
Rulli, R-Salem, and Stoltzfus, R-Paris Township, raised those amounts between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, referred to as the preprimary period.
Rulli collected $216,779 from individual donors, $58,350 from political committees and $60 in rebates or refunds while Stoltzfus raised $187,531 from individual donors and $16,350 from political committees.
Rulli, Stoltzfus and Rick Tsai of East Palestine filed as Republicans for the unexpired term of Republican Bill Johnson and for the full two-year term that starts in January 2025.
Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown and Rylan Z. Finzer of Bedford Heights filed as Democrats.
The primary for both seats will be March 19 with the special general election for the unexpired term on June 11 and the election for the full two-year term on Nov. 5.
Johnson, who served 13 years in Congress, resigned Jan. 21 to become president of Youngstown State University.
During the preprimary reporting period, Rulli spent $281,088 to $247,826 for Stoltzfus.
Rulli's largest expenses were $146,226 to Media Ad Ventures of Springfield, Virginia, for media advertising; and $70,245 to Spencer Federal LLC of East Liverpool for mail production and services.
Stoltzfus' biggest expenses were $90,040 to Flexpoint Campaigns of New Albany for television broadcasting; $38,023 to Monkey Crayon Media LLC of Westlake for direct mail; and $22,600 to Cygal of Washington, D.C., for polling.
In the latter half of December, Rulli raised $167,546, including $30,400 from himself. Stoltzfus raised $283,826 with a $250,000 loan from the candidate.
Overall, Stoltzfus has raised about $45,000 more than Rulli as of Feb. 28. Without money given by the candidates, Rulli has collected about $135,000 more from donors than Stoltzfus.
Rulli also has spent about $34,000 more on his campaign than Stoltzfus as of Feb. 28.
Tsai filed a preprimary campaign report showing he raised $25,171, including $1,241 from himself, and spent $7,324. His largest expense was $7,050 to iHeart Media for radio commercials.
As of Feb. 28, Rulli had $160,542 in his fund compared to $239,596 for Stoltzfus and $7,324 for Tsai.
Kripchak hasn't filed any campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission.
Finzer's preprimary report showed he raised $5,178, including $500 of his own money, and spent $3,302 with $3,000 going to Jennifer Keeler of Washington, D.C., for campaign consulting.
Finzer had $1,876 in his fund as of Feb. 28.
Also, the FEC requires candidates to file notices of any contributions they receive of at least $1,000 less than 20 days before the election. The contributions have to be reported to the FEC within 48 hours of receiving them. Candidates don't have to file reports on expenditures during that time.
As of Monday, Rulli reported $28,393 in those contributions including $10,000 on March 5 from Koch Industries Political Action Committee, one of the largest Republican committees in the country.
Stoltzfus received $10,000 as of Monday from contributors since Feb. 28.
Tsai gave $5,400 to his campaign since Feb. 28 and received a $1,500 contribution.
The winner of the June 11 special election will fill the remainder of Johnson's term while the winner of the Nov. 5 general election will serve a full two-year term starting in January 2025.
The district has an 18% advantage for Republicans based on voting trends in partisan statewide elections over the past decade. The seat is considered safe for Republicans.
The 6th Congressional District includes all of Mahoning, Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties and portions of Stark and Tuscarawas counties. Mahoning is the district's most-populous county.