Ryan’s Senate Campaign Collects $4.1M in Q1 2022
NOTE: An earlier story on U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan’s fundraising results was incorrectly posted Tuesday.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan’s campaign for U.S. Senate said Tuesday it raised $4.1 million during the first quarter of the year.
The haul is the most ever for a U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio at this point in the cycle, the campaign reported in a news release.
The campaign also said it received support from donors in all 88 Ohio counties, with 29,239 new donors just this quarter, and 97% of all contributions were $100 or less. It closed out the quarter with $6.4 million on hand.
The first-quarter 2022 results follow Ryan raising $2.9 million during the fourth quarter of 2021, $2.5 million during the third and $2.3 million during the second.
“We’re proud to have momentum on Tim’s side in the race to flip Ohio’s open Senate seat,” Izzi Levy, Tim Ryan for Ohio spokeswoman, said in the release.
“Tim’s record-breaking fundraising and grassroots support from all 88 counties are a testament to his commitment to the Ohio workers he’s spent his career fighting for — an undeniable contrast with the clown car of out-of-touch GOP millionaires raiding their own fortunes to try to buy themselves this seat,” she added.
“It’s a strong number and it’s a necessary number,” Paul Sracic, chairman of Youngstown State University’s department of politics and international relations, said. Whomever the Republican nominee is who emerges from the crowded GOP primary will be well funded.
Republicans are engaged in what has been characterized as an often brutal primary campaign for their party’s nomination. The field includes businessman Mike Gibbons, author J.D. Vance, former state treasurer Josh Mandel, former Ohio Republican Party chairwoman Jane Timken and state Sen. Matt Dolan.
Ryan, D-13 Ohio, is running against consumer protection attorney Morgan Harper and technology executive Traci Johnson for the Democratic Party nod. He is considered the frontrunner in the Democratic primary race and has endorsements from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and U.S. Reps. Joyce Beatty and Marcy Kaptur, as well as two dozen labor unions and the Ohio AFL-CIO, nearly 250 state and local elected officials, and Democratic leaders and activists in every corner of Ohio.
Ryan hasn’t been seen as a strong fundraiser in his past campaigns for Congress, but he also has been running from what has been seen as a safe seat and hasn’t been required to raise as much money before, Sracic said. The Senate race is “completely different,” he said.
“He’s arguably the underdog in this race, first of all. Plus, it’s a national race” because of the balance of power in the Senate, he said. “This money probably is not just coming from Ohio. It’s coming from all over the country because if you’re a Democrat worried about losing the Senate and you live in a state that doesn’t have a Senate race this year, you’re going to be inclined to send some money to Ohio.”
He also noted that the eventual Republican nominee would be well funded regardless of who merges from the primary.
“This and the Pennsylvania race are going to be really, really expensive,” he said. Democrats have to worry about defending seats in places like Arizona and Georgia. It would be ironic, he pointed out, if Democrats lost those two seats but kept control of the Senate because they won Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
