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Democrats Looking Very Good In Ohio Open Seats
- Filed under: Boccieri / Schuring, Ohio 2008
- Date: Jul 16,2008
The Federal Elections Commission reports for Congressional candidates have finally been made public. The amounts raised and the cash on hand numbers give us some real insight into how these races are shaping up and which challengers are viable. There is a lot of good news for Democrats. Here are the big two races in Ohio and what yesterday's reports tell us.
OH-15: Kilroy ahead by $283,514
This is the most hotly contested race in Ohio. Both parties are pouring resources into this district. Stivers won the last quarter of fundraising, but it is remarkable that Kilroy has been able to maintain her cash advantage. Emily's List has a perfect summary on the state of this race: "In 2006, Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy nearly unseated the highest ranking Republican woman in Congress, Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce. Pryce outspent Kilroy by almost $2 million in the 15th district, but won by a margin of only 1,062 votes. Kilroy immediately decided she would challenge Pryce in 2008, and the incumbent later decided not to seek re-election — leaving this critical seat in a presidential swing state open and up for grabs." Kilroy's cash advantage gives her a great chance to finally turn this district blue.
State Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Upper Arlington):
$428,922 this quarter, $879,753 cash on handFranklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus):
$365,962 this quarter, $1,163,267 cash on hand
OH-16: Boccieri ahead by $182,076
I stood up at my desk and started clapping when I saw these numbers. Schuring is now going to have to spend the next fundraising quarter explaining why he is behind in fundraising in a district that has been in Republican control since 1951. Boccieri will be able to continue to raise the profile of his candidacy and build on his organizational advantage.
State Sen. Kirk Schuring (R-Canton):
$329,525 in this quarter, $348,939 cash on handState Sen. John Boccieri (D-New Middletown):
$391,237 in this quarter, $531,015 cash on hand
Several Democratic challengers in Ohio are also looking very promising. Toping the list is Vic Wulsin in OH-2 who has $378,084 and is nipping at the heals of incumbent Jean Schmidt who has $393,028 cash on hand. In OH-1, Democratic challenger Steve Driehaus has a very respectable total of $631,440 in the bank, but is farther behind incumbent Steve Chabot who has $1,311,547. These are two races in southern Ohio where Democrats are in a good position to take out Republican incumbents.
However, it wasn't all rosy for Democrat candidates in Ohio. The most disappointing report came out of Ohio's 14th Districts where incumbent Republican Steve LaTourette has $870,849 in the bank compared to a meager $46,541 for Democratic challenger Bill O'Neill. In O'Neill's defense, he did have open heart surgery last quarter and lost valuable time on the trail. Hopefully he can turn it around. Ben and I will continue to highlight the numbers from other Congressional races around the state in the coming week.
Numbers courtesy of PolitickerOH.com
5 Responses for "Democrats Looking Very Good In Ohio Open Seats"
Sure money is money, but where is it coming from? If the Republicans are getting the money from people who can actually vote in these races, then you may want to stop your clapping.
Any insight as to where the money is coming from?
My rough calculations from the first reporting period was that only 16% of Boccieri contributions came from within the district that he wants to represent and there were only a handful of Stark County Dem's that maxed out. It will be interesting to see if this changes in this reporting period. For more on this check out http://www.thecampaignjunkie.com.
I believe O'Neill had around $36K on hand at the close of the last reporting period. That means, he raised $100K in this quarter (which isn't bad) but blew through $90K. What's he spending it on, because that seems awfully wasteful?
Did you really stand up and start clapping?
Steve Chabot is $700,000 ahead of Driehaus but Dreihaus is in a good position?
I know O'Neill spent some money on giving people gas in that stunt he ran, that was probably a big chunk of his money.
Kyle and I had a big argument about this the other day. He thinks that by Democrats outraising their Republican counterparts downticket that it is going to really be a huge benefit to Obama. He thinks it will help boost turnout for Obama. I argue that no one gets a flyer in the mail for the race in OH-15 and decides to vote Democrat in that race and is also like, "well, I guess I will also vote in the Presdiential Election too." It is driven from the top down, especially this year.
In my opinion, either you are voting for President or you arent and it isnt decided by a local race. I dont think fundraising of downticket House races have much of an impact, if any – on McCain v. Obama.
Actually, Ben, O'Neill's gas stunt was to give people a $1.13 off of their total bill. It didn't reduce the price per gallon by $1.13 or make the price of a gallon $1.13.
So, it shouldn't have taken up that much of his funding.
Also, I was mistaken with my earlier numbers. O'Neill basically had the same amount of money on hand at the close of the last reporting period as he does now. So he basically has spent already every dollar he earned this period.
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