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Ryan’s Senate campaign sets another fundraising record

Democrat Tim Ryan’s campaign reported raising $17.2 million in the third quarter — nearly doubling what was raised in the prior quarter and once again breaking a fundraising record for a U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio.

The Howland resident previously had set the record for most money in a quarter between April and June with $9,133,487 and before that, had the old record with $4,111,765 in the year’s first quarter.

Ryan, a 10-term congressman, is facing Republican J.D. Vance, a venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” in the general election. Most polls have the race as a statistical tie.

The $17.2 million between July and September is almost as much as the $21,773,132 Ryan raised for the entire campaign before the third quarter.

The $17.2 million includes 105,455 new donors in the third quarter, according to his campaign, and more than 95 percent of the donations were $100 or less. The average online donation was $39.57, the campaign stated.

Ryan is spending money almost as fast as he is raising it with much of it going toward advertising.

His campaign said he had just over $1.5 million in his campaign fund as of Sept. 30, the last day of the third quarter filing period.

Ryan ended the second quarter on June 30 with $3,567,175 in his campaign fund.

The campaign didn’t say how much of the $17.2 million came from Ohioans. In previous quarters, much of the money raised by Ryan came from outside the state.

“While San Francisco fraud J.D. Vance relies on his out-of-state allies to bail out his struggling campaign, we’re proud to have grassroots support from Ohioans in all 88 counties who know Tim is the only candidate who will fight for them in the Senate,” said Jordan Fuja, a Ryan campaign spokeswoman. “With Election Day nearing, we couldn’t be prouder of the strong and growing grassroots team that has powered our campaign since Day One.”

The latest announcement from Ryan’s campaign continues a trend of raising more money in each quarter than the previous one.

VANCE CAMPAIGN

Vance’s campaign didn’t release his third quarter financial figures as of Tuesday.

Candidates have to submit that information to the Federal Election Commission for the third quarter by 11:59 p.m. Oct. 15.

Luke Schroeder, Vance’s spokesman, said, “No matter how much money Tim Ryan raises from wealthy liberal donors to run fraudulent TV ads, it won’t be enough to buy this race. Nothing can change the fact that Ryan is an out-of-touch liberal career politician who has spent 20 years in D.C. selling out Ohio to the radical left. Ohioans are smarter than Tim Ryan thinks they are. They know he voted with (President Joe) Biden and (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi 100 percent of the time and they won’t fall for his lies, regardless of how much money he spends trying to deceive them.”

Through the second quarter, Vance raised considerably less money than Ryan. Vance’s Senate campaign would have had a deficit at the end of the second quarter if not for $700,000 the candidate gave it while a joint fundraising committee he uses to raise most of his money would have had only a $91,626 surplus as of June 30 if it paid the outstanding debt it owed.

Vance’s committees raised $2,371,538 in the second quarter.

Vance’s campaign website currently states that the first $2,900 from a donor goes toward the general election with the next $2,900 toward retiring the primary election debt. Back in July, that was switched with the first $2,900 going toward primary debt.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC connected to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said Aug. 18 that it was booking $28 million in advertising to help Vance in Ohio. It’s the third-highest amount for a Republican Senate race in the country behind only Georgia and Pennsylvania.

As of Tuesday, the Senate Leadership Fund has spent about $12.9 million in Ohio, according to FEC filings.

Numerous other outside groups have spent money on the Senate race in Ohio but not to the level of the Senate Leadership Fund.

FF PAC, a major Democratic super PAC, reported spending about $3 million against Vance though it stopped spending in July in this race.

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