Strickland Raises $671K, Still Lags Portman in Funds

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ted Strickland for Senate campaign today announced it raised $671,073 in the 35 days since the former Ohio governor announced his candidacy. But even so, the $649,171 the Democrat’s campaign has on hand is less than a 10th of what incumbent U.S. Sen. Rob Portman has in his war chest.

Last week, Portman’s reelection campaign reported it had raised $2.75 million during the first quarter of 2015 and has $8 million on hand.

Strickland, who before being elected governor in 2006 represented a U.S. congressional district that included Columbiana County and part of Mahoning County, announced in February that he would seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Portman, a Republican elected in 2010, next year.

“In a very short period of time we’ve seen an outpouring of support for Ted all across Ohio. We fully expect the momentum we’ve seen in the past several weeks to continue,” said Strickland’s campaign manager, Rebecca Pearcey.

On Monday, a Quinnipiac University Poll showed respondents favoring Strickland over Portman, 48% to 39%. Independent voters backed Strickland over Portman 50% to 32%.

Strickland also enjoyed a 49%-29% favorability rating. Portman, who voters approve 49% to 23% of the job he is doing, has a 38%-18% favorability rating, according to the poll.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.