A low-key but interesting 2026 race in Ohio is the Republican primary contest for state treasurer, which features three declared candidates: former State Sen. Niraj Antani, former State Rep. Jay Edwards and Roegner. The latter two are angling to be Ramaswamy’s running mate.
Roegner raised $550,000 during the first six months of this year, which, along with a $500,000 personal loan, gives her a notable $1 million in campaign cash. Her top contributors include her husband, Eric, Michael Kahoe of Richfield, and John Blickle, the owner of a chain of McDonald’s franchises in the Akron area. They each gave roughly $16,000.
Meanwhile, Edwards reported raising $16,600, most of which was due to a single $15,000 contribution from Don Jones, a former state lawmaker who left his position to take a job with the DeWine administration earlier this year.
Edwards hasn’t officially committed to the treasurer’s race, even though he’s filed paperwork to do so. He said Wednesday he hasn’t been actively fundraising and will make a decision on whether to run soon.
Antani filed a report following the Thursday deadline that showed very little campaign activity. He raised $1,010 total – a contribution directly from him. He also loaned his campaign $76,500, which he spent through the course of the year. His account now has a little less than $7,200.
Another interesting Republican primary features two candidates for Ohio Secretary of State: Robert Sprague and Marcell Strbich. Sprague has served as state treasurer since 2019, while Strbich is a former military intelligence officer who’s emerged as a figure in the conservative election integrity movement that followed the 2020 presidential election.
The race looks as though it could be a repeat of recent Secretary of State elections in which more established Republican candidates have faced challenges from the political right.
Sprague raised roughly $422,300 and now has about $2.3 million in his campaign bank account, including $935,000 he personally loaned his campaign. His top supporters are ACT Ohio, which represents the state’s construction industry, and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters.
Strbich raised $153,000 and has $164,600 in campaign funds. His top contributors include Mark Pukita, a conservative activist, and several family members. He also got $5,000 from John Adams, who unsuccessfully mounted a conservative challenge of current Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in 2022.
State lawmakers write personal checks to Ramaswamy
About 20 Ohio politicians wrote checks, via their campaign accounts, to GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Vivek Ramaswamy. Such is standard fare in state politics.
But two lawmakers reached into their own pockets for Ramaswamy, who hasn’t yet picked a running mate.
State. Sen. Kristina Roegner, a Hudson Republican who’s running for treasurer, wrote a $10,000 personal check. George Lang, an Ohio Senate Republican, personally gave $5,000.
Car dealers back one of their own for Ohio Senate president
Last Thursday’s state campaign finance reports bring us a few different notable news tidbits.
First: the Senate President’s job opens up at years’ end, and at least two Republicans – Jerry Cirino, of Lake County, and Bill Reineke, of Union County – are gunning for the top job.
Fundraising chops are the coin of the realm in leadership politics. And Reineke, himself a part owner of a chain of auto dealerships around Northwest Ohio, showed he has his industry colleagues behind him.
As Jake Zuckerman writes, Reineke raised $130,000 this year alone from auto dealers around the state – the guys with their name at the bottom of the license plate frames.That made up a hearty chunk of the $418,000 he raised, which towers over Cirino’s $230,000.
Ramaswamy’s town hall on Cincinnati violence
Late last month, a street brawl occurred in downtown Cincinnati. It could have been just another item in the police blotter. But it went viral after it was captured on video and promoted by right-wing influencers who described it as a racially motivated attack by a crowd of Black people on a white couple.
As the story picked up steam on Fox News and in local media, activists and Republicans here and across the country said the clip was evidence that the Queen City was out of control.
Enter Ramaswamy.
The Republican governor candidate held a 90-minute town hall meeting on Monday in Cincinnati to discuss the video and what he said were underlying public safety concerns in the city. The event rode the wave of the story while also breathing new life into it.
Ramaswamy’s town hall, which I covered, could have been a simple, staged political rally taking advantage of a viral moment. But it ended up being much more. Attended by a cross section of people from Cincinnati, it was surprisingly raw and allowed participants to openly discuss race relations and vent frustrations with violence in the city.
Ramaswamy’s handling of the video and town hall shows what makes him unique as an Ohio candidate. A tech-literate millennial, he excels in today’s political media environment, which rewards viral moments and podcast-style, unfiltered discussions.
Cincinnati’s Democratic leaders have a different take. They accused Ramaswamy of harming the city’s reputation and inflaming racial tensions. To read a full takeout on the town hall, click here.
Dog days of summer make a rest stop
It was a slow week in Columbus, with the state legislature in Boston attending a National Conference of State Legislatures. Meanwhile, some of Gov. Mike DeWine’s most notable public appearances occurred in eastern Ohio, where he cut ribbons on three new highway rest stops in Jefferson and Washington counties.
