Hey everyone, this is Matt The Angry Democrat. I want to congratulate everyone who helped Democrats win. I’m excited to see what they can do in Congress. Ohio is sending eight Democrats to Washington after three Republican-held seats flipped and all five Democratic incumbents won reelection.
Before we get into it, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help us produce articles like this throughout the year and hold Congress accountable.
I started The Angry Democrat because I believe we have the most say when our own party is in power. That’s when we should get off the sidelines, speak directly to the people we elected, and hold them to the promises they made to us.
I want healthcare for all, a balanced budget and a lower national debt, a ban on stock trading in Congress and the executive branch, and term limits across all three branches of government. I also want to end corruption, reform campaign finance, and overturn Citizens United.
That starts with a record we can come back to: who gave to the campaigns, who spent money independently, and how far we can trace that money.
What the Eight (Dem) Campaigns Reported
Through the October 14, 2026 reporting cutoff, the eight campaigns reported approximately:
$24.65 million in total receipts.
$21.82 million in campaign spending.
$6.55 million from other political committees, about 27% of total receipts.
Political committee contributions include money from corporate-affiliated PACs, labor PACs, trade association PACs, and other political committees.
OH-1: Greg Landsman
Campaign receipts: $5.66 million
Campaign spending: $5.34 million
From other political committees: $1.20 million
OH-3: Joyce Beatty
Campaign receipts: $1.45 million
Campaign spending: $1.43 million
From other political committees: $1.05 million, about 72% of receipts
OH-7: Brian Poindexter
Campaign receipts: $3.72 million
Campaign spending: $2.93 million
From other political committees: $401,000
OH-9: Marcy Kaptur
Campaign receipts: $5.91 million
Campaign spending: $5.66 million
From other political committees: $1.51 million, the highest dollar amount among the eight campaigns
OH-10: Kristina Knickerbocker
Campaign receipts: $1.02 million
Campaign spending: $882,000
From other political committees: $90,500
OH-11: Shontel Brown
Campaign receipts: $1.57 million
Campaign spending: $1.18 million
From other political committees: $984,000, about 63% of receipts
OH-13: Emilia Sykes
Campaign receipts: $3.99 million
Campaign spending: $3.17 million
From other political committees: $1.26 million
OH-15: Don Leonard
Campaign receipts: $1.33 million
Campaign spending: $1.23 million
From other political committees: $50,000
Outside Spending, District by District
Independent expenditures are separate from campaign receipts and spending. A group can pay for an ad opposing Max Miller without sending any money to Brian Poindexter’s campaign.
The lists below show spending for the Democrat, against the Democrat, and against the Republican opponent. They don’t include every category of spending in each race. The general election figures for OH-7, OH-9, OH-10, and OH-15 use filings through November 9. The other district totals and some individual spending categories come from the earlier working compilation. Those figures remain provisional until late notices and amendments are reconciled with regular filings.
OH-1: Greg Landsman
Outside spending
Supporting Landsman: $1.80 million
Opposing Landsman: $3.61 million
Opposing his Republican opponent: $868,000
Selected spending supporting Landsman
CFFE PAC: About $643,000
New American Jobs Fund: About $507,000
A Strong Innovation Economy Requires Strong IP Protection: About $240,000
Vendor status: Specific payees and advertising formats remain unverified.
OH-3: Joyce Beatty
Outside spending identified
Supporting Beatty: About $160
Opposing Beatty: None identified in the records reviewed
Opposing her Republican opponent: About $185
Groups identified: Sierra Club Independent Action and Stand Up for Ohio. Direct committee contributions were the larger source of funding in this race.
OH-7: Brian Poindexter vs. Max Miller
General election outside spending
Supporting Poindexter: About $740,000
Opposing Poindexter: About $6.8 million
Opposing Miller: About $11.2 million
Combined spending supporting Poindexter or opposing Miller: About $11.9 million
Selected general election expenditures
House Majority PAC: $6.83 million in television advertising opposing Miller
Your Community PAC: $1.98 million in television advertising opposing Miller
Ready for the Fight: $1.47 million in media buys opposing Miller
Progressive Turnout Project: About $380,000 supporting Poindexter
Selected primary expenditures, separate from the general election totals
Jobs and Democracy PAC: About $570,204 supporting Poindexter in the earlier filing snapshot. That included about $424,281 for television and $70,200 for digital advertising.
BDA PAC: About $198,019 supporting Poindexter. The direct-mail vendor remains unconfirmed.
OH-9: Marcy Kaptur vs. Derek Merrin
General election outside spending
Supporting Kaptur: About $2.9 million
Opposing Kaptur: About $8.7 million
Opposing Merrin: About $5.5 million
Selected spending supporting Kaptur
New American Jobs Fund: $695,717 for canvassing
AFSCME PEOPLE: $584,500 for digital advertising
CFFE PAC: $527,504 for canvassing
AB PAC: $365,629 for billboards
Selected spending opposing Merrin
House Majority PAC: About $5.12 million for television
EDW Action Fund: $347,351 for digital advertising
American Resolve PAC: About $60,000 for texting
OH-10: Kristina Knickerbocker vs. Mike Turner
General election outside spending
Supporting Knickerbocker: About $1.7 million
Opposing Knickerbocker: About $3.7 million
Opposing Turner: About $6 million
Selected spending supporting Knickerbocker
Your Community PAC: $804,931 for digital advertising
House Majority PAC: $287,104 for digital advertising
Women Vote: $187,859 for digital media
Leaders We Deserve: $161,670 for digital advertising
AB PAC: $105,876 for billboards
Selected spending opposing Turner
House Majority PAC: About $4.32 million for television
Your Community PAC: About $1.30 million for television. The filing description also referenced support for Knickerbocker.
Innovation Ohio PAC: About $235,000 for digital advertising
Vendor status: The Ohio agency and media-buyer payments still need to be matched to the original filings.
OH-11: Shontel Brown
Outside spending identified
Supporting Brown: About $1,010
Opposing Brown: None identified in the records reviewed
Opposing her Republican opponent: About $185
Groups identified: The Collective Super PAC, Sierra Club Independent Action, and Stand Up for Ohio. As in Beatty’s race, direct committee contributions were the larger source of funding.
OH-13: Emilia Sykes
Outside spending
Supporting Sykes: About $1.05 million
Opposing Sykes: About $140,000
Opposing her Republican opponent: About $14,000
Selected spending supporting Sykes
Think Big PAC: $332,071 for digital and streaming advertising
New Democrat Majority: $270,000 for digital buys and production
Rolling Sea Action Fund: $230,000 for media production and placement
New American Jobs Fund: $123,790 for canvassing
CFFE PAC: $57,790 for canvassing
OH-15: Don Leonard vs. Mike Carey
General election outside spending
Supporting Leonard: About $2.5 million
Opposing Leonard: About $2.7 million
Opposing Carey: About $4 million
Selected expenditures
Your Community PAC: About $1.54 million supporting Leonard and $951,000 opposing Carey
CFFE PAC: About $645,000 supporting Leonard
House Majority PAC: About $2.5 million opposing Carey
Vendor status: The spending committees are identifiable. The specific Ohio vendor payments still need to be matched to those expenditures.
Who Funded the Outside Groups?
The amounts below are national contributions to the committees. They show who gave to a group that spent money in Ohio. A separate record would be needed to show that a donor’s money paid for a particular Ohio ad.
House Majority PAC
House Majority Forward: About $93.7 million. The nonprofit’s underlying donors are not fully identified in the PAC’s filings.
Michael Bloomberg: $16 million
Reid Hoffman: $8.5 million
Ohio spending identified: Television opposing Max Miller, Mike Turner, and Derek Merrin, plus spending opposing Mike Carey.
Your Community PAC
American Opportunity Action: $10.015 million in one filing-based compilation. The amount varies across the records reviewed and remains provisional.
Sixteen Thirty Fund: About $2.74 million
United Futures: About $2.58 million
Green Advocacy Project: $2 million
Ohio spending identified: Television opposing Max Miller and Mike Turner, digital advertising supporting Kristina Knickerbocker, and spending supporting Don Leonard and opposing Mike Carey.
Ready for the Fight
JB Pritzker: About $10 million, as identified in the working research.
Ohio spending identified: About $1.47 million on media opposing Max Miller.
Jobs and Democracy PAC
Public First Action: About $15.4 million across two reported name variants
Public First PAC: About $4.05 million
Jan Leike: $100,000 in personal contributions
Girish Sastry: $75,000 in personal contributions
Todor Markov: $50,000 in personal contributions
Ohio spending identified: About $570,204 supporting Brian Poindexter in the earlier filing snapshot. The records reviewed do not establish that Anthropic corporate funds paid for those ads.
Think Big PAC
Leading the Future: $20 million across four matched transfers in one filing-based compilation. Think Big reported $24.5 million in total political committee receipts. The full amount attributable to Leading the Future still needs reconciliation.
Upstream contributors to Leading the Future: The research identified a16z Capital Management and personal contributions from Greg and Anna Brockman.
Ron Conway: $500,000 directly to Think Big
Ohio spending identified: About $332,071 supporting Emilia Sykes.
CFFE PAC
Pivotal Ventures: $2 million
Opportunity Action Fund: Identified as a contributor, with materially different totals across the compilations reviewed.
Ohio spending identified: Support for Greg Landsman, Marcy Kaptur, Emilia Sykes, and Don Leonard.
New Democrat Majority
Opportunity Forward Alliance: About $3.36 million
Effective Governing Coalition: $2.25 million
Ohio spending identified: About $270,000 for digital advertising and production supporting Emilia Sykes.
Who Received the Payments?
The committee paying for an ad, the firm it hires, and the station or platform that runs it can be three different entities. Here’s what the vendor research identifies so far:
Jobs and Democracy PAC → Bryson Gillette LLC: About $19.43 million nationwide. The national vendor total does not tell us how much the firm received for the Poindexter spending.
Think Big PAC → Lantern Production Consultants LLC: About $22.33 million nationwide. The vendor compilation links Lantern to a roughly $4,900 media placement fee supporting Sykes. That fee is part of the $332,071 in spending supporting her.
Think Big PAC → Manhattan Strategies LLC: About $574,000 nationwide. No Sykes-specific amount is identified here.
BDA PAC → possible Bottled Lightning Collective payment: The research points to Bottled Lightning as a possible direct-mail vendor for the roughly $198,000 supporting Poindexter. The original payee record still needs confirmation.
Who Gave Directly to the Campaigns?
These are selected contributions from the working compilation. Each amount is approximate.
Joyce Beatty
Huntington Bancshares PAC: $10,000
Fifth Third PAC: $10,000
Goldman Sachs PAC: $10,000
Regions Financial PAC: $10,000
FICO PAC: $10,000
American Electric Power political committee: $10,000
Marcy Kaptur
Honeywell PAC: $10,000
Emilia Sykes
Honeywell PAC: $10,000
Huntington Bancshares PAC: $5,000
Shontel Brown
TransDigm Group employee PAC: $10,000 to Brown’s campaign
Hy-Vee Employees PAC: $10,000
Zurich Holding Company of America PAC: $10,000
Rock Holdings PAC: $10,000
Separate leadership PAC contribution: TransDigm’s PAC also gave about $10,000 to Strength in Seven, Brown’s affiliated leadership PAC.
Selected individual contributions grouped by reported employer
Greg Landsman: About $18,000 from individuals listing Kroger as their employer.
Shontel Brown: About $14,000 from individuals listing TransDigm Group as their employer.
Emilia Sykes: About $11,000 from individuals listing Summa Health as their employer.
Stay Angry.
Sources
Ohio tracking tools: Integrity Index: Ohio’s U.S. House delegation and Ohio Campaign Tracker
Election results: Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio’s incoming congressional delegation
Campaign receipts and direct contributions: FEC candidate records, committee receipts, and individual contributions
Outside spending by district: FEC independent expenditures and PaidForPolitics general election snapshots for OH-7, OH-9, OH-10, and OH-15
House Majority PAC and Your Community PAC: HMP’s FEC record, HMP donor breakdown, and Your Community PAC donor breakdown
Ready for the Fight, CFFE PAC, and New Democrat Majority: Ready for the Fight’s FEC record, CFFE PAC’s FEC record, CFFE donor breakdown, and New Democrat Majority donor breakdown
Jobs and Democracy PAC and Think Big: Jobs and Democracy PAC’s FEC record, donor breakdown, vendor and spending breakdown, and Think Big’s receipts, vendors, and candidate spending
Records for checking specific payments and placements: FEC disbursements and FCC political advertising files