EXCLUSIVE — Republican candidate Frank LaRose has raised more than $1 million since launching his Ohio Senate bid three months ago, putting the secretary of state in a strong position as he faces a crowded primary field in the key battleground state.
LaRose reported a haul of $1,041,657 during the third fundraising quarter, ending with about $868,679 cash on hand as he heads into the final three months of the year, according to a campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission first shared with the Washington Examiner. The quarterly report places LaRose behind both his primary opponents, Bernie Moreno and Matt Dolan, although the fundraising numbers are on par with his competition when only considering money that was externally raised.
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Moreno and Dolan raised about $4 million during the third quarter, but both candidates injected roughly $3 million of their own money into their campaigns. Meanwhile, LaRose has abstained from self-funding practices, according to his campaign.
“Despite Frank not being a self-funder and while his primary opponents will rely on their family fortunes to finance their latest Senate bids, our campaign will have more than enough resources to compete and win the primary,” his campaign said in a memo obtained by the Washington Examiner. “But there are things that money cannot buy in politics, and that is political support and outstanding polling numbers that back up this momentum.”
Internal polling conducted by the LaRose campaign shows the secretary of state leading his opponents by nearly 10 points, with 32% of Ohio voters saying they’d back LaRose compared to 22% who said the same for Dolan. Another 10% said they’d back Moreno, according to the poll.
LaRose has also garnered the backing of more than 250 conservative leaders in Ohio and has established leadership teams across all 88 counties in the Buckeye State, according to his campaign.
However, LaRose may face an uphill climb as Dolan reported having nearly $7 million in the bank and Moreno has roughly $5 million cash on hand heading into the third quarter. Then again, both candidates launched their bids months before LaRose, leaving the primary up in the air.
LaRose announced in late July he would be running for Senate after months of speculation surrounding a possible bid. He joins a crowded field of Republican contenders seeking to unseat incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Brown is considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the Senate heading into the 2024 cycle, as he is running in a state that former President Donald Trump won by 8 percentage points in 2020. The race has been deemed a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
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There are 34 Senate seats up for grabs in the 2024 election cycle. Of these, Democrats must defend 23, compared to just 11 for Republicans, putting the GOP in a strong position to flip crucial Senate seats that could easily shift the balance of power in the upper chamber.
Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, with the advantage of having Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker vote if needed. As a result, Republicans only need to flip one Senate seat to win the majority should they win back the White House in 2024. If they don’t regain the Oval Office, the party must secure two extra Senate seats.
