WASHINGTON, D. C. – U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan raised nearly $1.2 million for his re-election campaign in the year’s third quarter – an eye-popping sum that reflects his enhanced profile as a top defender of President Donald Trump as the U.S. House of Representatives weighs impeachment.
Before 2019, the highest amount that the Champaign County Republican had ever raised during a fundraising period was around $320,000.
His quarterly fundraising increased dramatically after becoming the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He’s used that position – and a post on the House Judiciary Committee – to criticize Democratic probes of Trump.
Jordan has also escalated the pace of his fundraising emails to supporters. Subject lines of recent missives include: “They’re trying to steal conservative seats,” “They’re coming for our guns,” and “Democrats can’t stand Jim Jordan.”
Here’s the text of a September 24 email:
“Today, socialists in the Democrat party are working from the bottom up to fundamentally change our Republic by:
Pushing government run healthcare
Infringing upon individual liberties – citing climate change
Labeling the NRA a terrorist organization
Peddling fake news about conservative members of the judiciary
Aiming to undermine President Trump every waking minute of the day
We have to face it: Democrats don’t like our Republic the way it is today.”
The tactics are paying off for Jordan. His campaign collected $484,083 in the year’s first quarter, $738,990 in the second quarter and $1,195,996 in the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
About $620,000 of the cash he collected in the most recent fundraising period came from contributions that were too small to be itemized. He also got $5,000 donations from political action committees representing companies including Whirlpool and FirstEnergy.
In addition to raising more campaign money than he used to, Jordan is also spending far more money. Most of it goes toward fundraising. More then $500,000 of the $617,742 he spent in the last quarter went for that purpose.
Jordan also transferred close to $20,000 to Ohio’s Republican Senate Campaign Committee in Columbus, and donated $2,000 to Cincinnati GOP Rep. Steve Chabot’s re-election campaign.
At the end of the quarter, his campaign had $1,441,937 in the bank.
None of the other Northeast Ohio members of Congress who filed third quarter spending reports at the Federal Election Commission collected as much as Jordan.
Freshman Rocky River Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez raised $296,475 during the quarter and had $730,440 in the bank at the end of the reporting period. More than half of the $97,773 his campaign spent went toward fundraising.
Gonzalez – a former star wide receiver for the Ohio State Buckeyes and Indianapolis Colts – collected $5,600 in donations from Cleveland Browns owner James A. Haslam and his wife, Dee, as well as hedge fund manager Dan Loeb.
His $1,000 donors included Ellen J. Tressel, the wife of Gonzalez’ Ohio State University football coach Jim Tressel, who is now president of Youngstown State University.
His donations from the Smucker family and their political action committees totaled nearly $10,000. He also collected $9,000 from FirstEnergy’s PAC and $4,000 from a PAC associated with Quicken Loans.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, raised $286,569 in the quarter, of which $219,021 came from individuals. Some of his largest donations came from philanthropist Toby D. Lewis who gave $5,000, real estate developer John J. Carney, who gave $2,800, and concert promoter Jules Belkin who gave $2,500.
Political committees associated with FirstEnergy, the Council Of Insurance Agents & Brokers and The Hartford Financial Services Group each gave $5,000 to Brown, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.
The largest share of the $342,749 that his committee spent during the quarter was $200,000 for digital paid media. His campaign also spent $41,000 on fundraising consulting and $27,957 on direct mail production.
His campaign committee ended the quarter with a $1,182,333 war chest.
Rep. Bob Gibbs, a Republican from Holmes County, collected $174,683 in the quarter. Of that, $92,169 came from political action committees. Those that represent John Deere, employees of Marathon Petroleum and the Action Committee for Rural Electrification each gave $5,000 to his campaign.
Gibbs’ campaign spent $23,778 in the quarter. Food and drink for a fundraiser consumed $6,535 of that, and $6,437 went to a fundraising consultant, He ended the quarter with $458,139 in the bank.
U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, raised $123,435 during the quarter, of which $85,841 came from political committees. More than $35,000 of her $76,914 expenses paid for a fundraiser she holds at Akron’s Firestone Country Club.
Her $5,000 donors included political action committees representing the American Federation of Teachers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Laborers International Union of North America.
She ended the quarter with $1,012,840 in the bank.
Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur collected $96,373 in the quarter, $77,200 of which came from political action committees.
More than $13,000 of was from political committees associated with the sugar industry, who are sweet on Kaptur’s backing for sugar price supports. She also got $5,000 each from union PACS affiliated with communication workers, utility workers, laborers and operating engineers.
The largest chunk of her $60,252 in campaign expenses was the $30,000 in dues she paid to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She also spent $14,000 on campaign fundraising services and donated $2,500 to the Ohio Democratic Party.
She concluded the quarter with $728,985 in her campaign account.
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