Outside groups filed $44.10 million of independent expenditures in Ohio's Senate race in 116 lines between 24 and 30 September, by Lowdown's sum of notices to the Federal Election Commission (FEC)1. Federal election law bars the groups behind such spending from working with a campaign. Senator Jon Husted, the Republican, faces Sherrod Brown, the Democrat who lost his seat in 2024.
The largest spender was Defend American Jobs, with $11.46 million, almost all of it in two lines split to the cent: $5,713,491.28 supporting Husted and $5,713,491.27 opposing Brown. The Washington Times reports that the committee belongs to the network of Fairshake, the crypto industry's political action committee (PAC), which has said it will spend $30 million against Brown2. The ads do not mention cryptocurrency, the paper reports. At the same point in 2024, according to the same report, Defend American Jobs had spent $40 million backing Bernie Moreno, who beat Brown.
Behind it came the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the Republican Senate leadership's Super PAC, which files with the FEC as SLF PAC, put $10.34 million against Brown, and WinSenate, a Democratic-aligned Super PAC, with $10.33 million against Husted. No Going Back PAC added $4.93 million, after $5.82 million in Ohio the previous week.
By Lowdown's sum of the named committees, Republican-side groups filed about $31.1 million in the week and Democratic-side groups about $11.3 million. That puts close to three dollars of outside money behind Husted for every one behind Brown. It comes on top of the $10.03 million of party spending with Husted that the National Republican Senatorial Committee reported for August.
