David Skolnick

While it was a near certainty that the four incumbent Republican state legislators who represent the Mahoning Valley were going to win their elections last month, the state political party and GOP fundraising groups in the General Assembly left nothing to chance.

Flush with money, the groups provided six-figure dollar amounts in in-kind contributions in just the three weeks before the Nov. 5 election to the legislators to ensure their victories.

Those incumbents are state Sens. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and Sandra O’Brien, R-Lenox, and state Reps. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, and Nick Santucci, R-Howland.

The contributions went for such large expenses as television and radio commercials, digital advertisements and campaign mail to small expenses such as postage and campaign staff. There’s even a $29.17 in-kind contribution to O’Brien for campaign office supplies.

During the post-general election reporting period, the four Republicans received between $115,806 and $237,249 in in-kind contributions from the Ohio Republican Party, Republican Senate Campaign Committee and / or the Ohio House Republican Alliance. The RSCC is the fundraising arm of the Senate Republican Caucus and the OHRA does the same for House Republicans.

After I put a link to an article I wrote on the in-kind contributions on X, formerly Twitter, ORP Chairman Alex Triantafilou posted: “Happy to help!” and included a flexed arm with a bulging bicep emoji.

While the post-general period runs from Oct. 17 to Dec. 6, virtually all of the money went to the incumbents before the Nov. 5 election. A small amount came in after Election Day to cover payments for services provided before that day.

The post-general reporting period is typically the most interesting one to look at for general elections – like the post-primary period is for primary elections – because it shows how much is raised and spent in the final days.

There are plenty of officeholders and / or candidates who don’t like to tip their hand before an election about how much they’re raising and spending to keep their opponents guessing and also to force them to make uniformed decisions about their own political campaigns.

Democrat Martin Hume of Youngstown, who lost to Cutrona, loaned $23,000 to his campaign in the post-general period after a $25,000 loan earlier in the campaign. Democrat Lauren Mathews of Warren, who lost to Santucci, loaned $19,200 to her campaign in the post-general period and $6,000 before it.

In all four races, the incumbent Republicans won by large margins.

Except for Santucci’s 64th Ohio House District, the other three were drawn to favor Republicans. Santucci’s district, which includes portions of Trumbull County, favored Democrats by about 2.5% based on partisan statewide election results during the previous decade. But with Trumbull now a solid Republican county, Santucci’s 12.4% victory wasn’t a surprise.

Also, the 65th House District, which includes portions of Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, favored Republicans by 14.5%. Democrats couldn’t even field a candidate to run against Ashtabula County Auditor David Thomas, R-Jefferson, for the seat.

The only safe Democratic district in the Mahoning Valley is the 58th House, represented by Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown.

McNally won by 16% in a district that favored Democrats by 21%. She was the only Valley legislative incumbent to underperform her advantage in a year that saw Republicans make major inroads in Mahoning County.

While the incumbent Republicans received much financial assistance from state Republican groups, Cutrona and Fischer made large payments from their campaigns to pay for some of that help.

Cutrona received $237,679 in in-kind contributions in total from the ORP and RSCC during the post-general period. Cutrona paid $150,000 to RSCC, which gave him $117,806 during the period.

During the pre-general period, April 20 to Oct. 16, Cutrona received $101,078 from the ORP and RSCC and gave $100,000 to the RSCC.

Fischer received $115,806 from the ORP and OHRA in the post-general period and gave $75,000 to the latter. Fischer gave $4,200 more to the OHRA in the post-general period than it gave him in in-kind contributions.

In the pre-general period, Fischer got $70,712 from the OHRA and paid $10,000 to the group. His campaign also received $19,887 from the ORP in the pre-general period.

But the circumstances were different as Fischer was appointed June 26 to the House to fill the vacancy created by Cutrona, who got selected as Republican Michael Rulli’s replacement in the state Senate on the same day.

Fischer joined the House without any money in his campaign fund so he needed the financial assistance of the Republican groups.

There are likely few better examples of the Republican financial strength in Ohio than O’Brien’s campaign.

During the Republican primary, the RSCC provided $452,587 to her campaign to beat state Rep. Mike Loychik, R-Bazetta.

Between the pre-general and post-general periods, the RSCC and ORP gave O’Brien’s campaign a combined $165,130 with $131,174 coming in the post-general reporting time.

Overall, O’Brien received $617,717 from the two groups and paid $60,000 to the RSCC for the year.

David Skolnick covers politics for The Vindicator and the Tribune Chronicle.