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U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce and Michael Rulli, the two Republicans who represent the Mahoning Valley, have significantly more money in their campaign accounts than their Democratic challengers.
After contested primaries for the Democratic and Republican nominations in both districts, Joyce, R-Bainbridge, had $3,121,594 in his campaign fund as of June 30 while Rulli, R-Salem, had $284,711.
In comparison, Maria Jukic of Euclid, who won the Democratic primary in the 14th Congressional District to face Joyce in the Nov. 3 election, had $33,692 in her campaign fund while Elizabeth Kirtley of New Philadelphia, who won the Democratic primary in the 6th District to challenge Rulli, reported $1,068 in her fund as of June 30.
Recent second-quarter campaign finance reports, for the period between April 16 and June 30, show Joyce, who is running for his eighth term in Congress, raised $312,633 and spent $107,302.
Rulli, who is seeking his second full two-year term after winning a special election in June 2024 for an open seat, raised $237,987 and spent $292,933 in the second quarter.
14TH DISTRICT
Of the $312,633 Joyce raised in the second quarter, $229,000 came from PACs, $75,462 came from individual donors and his campaign received $8,171 in interest.
Joyce's campaign received $5,000 maximum contributions from 12 PACs in the second quarter. That includes PACs run by Jordan and Emmer as well as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, Capital One Financial Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. employees, Herzog (a laboratory instrument company), Marathon Petroleum, MGM Resorts, National Association of Automobile Dealers, Science Application International Corp. and Woolpert Inc.
Of the $107,302 that Joyce spent in the second quarter, the largest expenses were $37,700 to Peak Insights of Missoula, Montana, for what the campaign called "research" on its campaign report and $29,578 to Fifth Third Bank in credit card payments.
Overall for this election cycle through June 30, Joyce raised $1,436,230 and spent $1,228,236.
Also during the second quarter, Joyce's PAC -- Defending American Values Everywhere (DAVE) PAC -- reported raising $40,500 and spending $11,783.31. With carryover, the PAC had a $287,270.04 surplus as of June 30.
Joyce won the May 5 Republican primary with 70.7% of the vote, defeating Niki Frenchko of Warren.
Frenchko last filed a campaign finance report with the FEC for financial activity through April 15.
At that time, Frenchko had raised $30,600 and spent $15,065.
Of the three Democrats who ran in their party's primary, Jukic won with 50.6% of the vote.
Jukic didn't raise any money until April 18.
Jukic raised $40,621 from donors in the second quarter. She spent $6,928, leaving her with a $33,692 surplus as of June 30.
The campaign also reported $9,012 in debt with $5,000 owed to Jasmina Tadic of Mentor and the rest to Jukic.
Bill O'Neill, a former Ohio Supreme Court justice and 11th District Court of Appeals judge, finished second in the Democratic primary with 36% of the vote. O'Neill of Chagrin Falls said he wouldn't take contributions and didn't file any reports with the FEC.
Carl Setzer of Moreland Heights finished last with 13.4%, but spent the most money of any of the Democratic candidates, $14,848, on his campaign, including $11,285 in the second quarter. His largest expense in the second quarter was $10,924 for Facebook ads.
Setzer raised $16,247 on his campaign, including $5,281 in the second quarter.
The 14th District includes all of Trumbull County and a small portion of Mahoning as well as all of Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga and most of Portage.
The district favors Republicans 58.5% to 41.5% for Democrats based on partisan statewide voting results during the past decade.
6TH DISTRICT
Of the money raised by Rulli in the second quarter, $161,450 came from political action committees with $67,137.15 from individual donors. He also received a $6,800 refund from a vendor and received $2,600 in transfers from other committees.
Rulli's campaign received $5,000 maximum contributions from nine PACs in the second quarter. That includes PACs run by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, Ohio; U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota and the House's majority whip; the National Electrical Contractors Association; Laborers International Union, Athletico (a physical therapy company); operating engineers union; American Israel Public Affairs Committee; Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding; and Democracy Engine, listed as an "intermediary" on Rulli's campaign report.
Rulli's campaign also reported a $15,000 contribution from Anthony S. Manna, chairman of the Akron law firm of Brennan, Manna & Diamond LLC. Under Federal Election Commission law, an individual can contribute only $7,000 per election cycle - $3,500 each for the primary and general elections combined - to a congressional candidate.
Rulli's largest expense in the second quarter was $100,000 transferred to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect Republicans to U.S. House seats. Rulli's campaign also paid $72,498 to Media Ad Ventures of Springfield, Virginia, for media buys, and $25,700.07 to Spencer Federal LLC of East Liverpool for campaign consulting, printing and mailing of campaign literature.
Overall for this election cycle as of June 30, Rulli raised $1,147,839 and spent $971,188.
Rulli won the May 5 Republican primary with 78.2% of the vote, beating Jullie Kelley of Monroe, who didn't raise enough money to file a campaign finance report.
There were six Democrats whose names appeared on the May 5 ballot with Kirtley emerging as the winner, capturing 31.1% of the vote.
Of the six, Kirtley raised the fifth most money.
Kirtley raised $1,106.70 in the second quarter - and $1,131.70 in total as of June 30 - while spending $56.77 in the quarter - and $62.76 in total for the primary election - in pulling off a surprising victory.
Adrian Vitus of Poland, who came in second in the Democratic primary with 22.3% of the vote, raised and spent the most. He raised $32,240 and spent $31,272.
Malcolm Ritchie of Dover, who finished fifth with 9% of the vote, raised $29,202 and spent $19,727. Of the money he raised, Ritchie gave $11,414 to his campaign.
Brent Hanni of Youngstown, who finished fourth with 9.9% of the vote, ended his campaign with a deficit. He raised $9,424 and spent $9,868.
Sean Connolly of Canfield, who placed second with 20.6% of the vote, didn't file a second-quarter report. In a report he filed for financial activity during the first three months of the year, Connolly had raised $4,546 and spent $2,427.
Charles DiPalma of Steubenville, who finished last with 7.2%, didn't file campaign finance reports with the FEC.
The 6th District includes most of Mahoning and Stark counties as well as all of Columbiana, Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison and Tuscarawas counties and portions of Wayne and Holmes counties.
The district favors Republicans 63.9% to 36.1% for Democrats based on partisan statewide voting results during the past decade.