The Senate campaign fund of Republican J.D. Vance reported raising more than $6.9 million in the third quarter and had more than $3.3 million on hand as of Sept. 30.

The amount raised between July and September is considerably less than the $17.2 million reported by Democrat Tim Ryan, who is also running for the open U.S. Senate seat.

But Vance had more than double the amount of cash in his fund than Ryan, who reported a surplus of $1.5 million, as of Sept. 30.

Most polls have the race between Ryan of Howland, a 10-term U.S. House member, and Vance, a venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” as a statistical tie.

In the third quarter, 96 percent of Vance’s donors gave $100 or less, and his average online donation was $33.26, according to his campaign.

Like Ryan, Vance’s campaign didn’t say how much of the money raised in the third quarter came from Ohioans. Also like Ryan, Vance’s campaign didn’t say how much of the money came from transfers from joint fundraising committees.

The $6.9 million amount announced Thursday by Vance’s campaign was just for his Senate fund, called J.D. Vance for Senate Inc.

It didn’t include money raised by Ohioans for J.D., a joint fundraising committee with Working for Ohio, which is Vance’s leadership political action committee, or by Vance Victory, a joint fundraising committee with the Ohio Republican Party and Working for Ohio.

Ryan’s $17.2 million broke a fundraising record for most money in a quarter raised by a U.S. Senate candidate from donors in Ohio. The previous record was Ryan’s second quarter in which he raised $9,133,487.

Ryan has a leadership PAC — America 2.0 — and the Tim Ryan Victory Fund 2022, a joint fundraising committee with America 2.0 and the Ohio Democratic Party.

None of Vance’s and Ryan’s committees have filed third quarter reports as of Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. The deadline to file them is 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

“I’m humbled by the incredible outpouring of support my campaign has received over the past few months,” Vance said Thursday. “There’s not a doubt in my mind we will have every resource we need to win this race.”

The election is Nov. 8. Early voting started Wednesday.

Vance added: “Let’s be honest, Ohioans don’t really care about the financial horse race in this campaign, but we do care about the truth. Tim Ryan is a far-left progressive who supported ending cash bail, called for a ban on gas cars and who votes in 100-percent lockstep with (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (President) Joe Biden. There is no amount of money Tim Ryan can raise or spend to change these facts. Ohioans are smarter than Tim Ryan gives us credit for. We won’t fall for Tim Ryan’s lies and we’ll soundly reject him in November.”

Izzi Levy, a Ryan spokeswoman, said: “Huge congratulations to J.D. Vance if this actually means that finally, five months later, he’s managed to pay off his debt from the primary. Too bad no sum of money in the world will be able to convince Ohioans than Vance is anything but a carpetbagging phony who brought a Big Pharma mouthpiece to the epicenter of Ohio’s opioid epidemic, called law enforcement ‘corrupt’ and enthusiastically supports an all-out national abortion ban that would force rape victims to have their rapist’s baby.”

Vance said at a Monday debate that there should be “reasonable exceptions” for abortion. In a September 2021 interview, he wouldn’t support an exception for rape and incest saying, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

It’s also unclear if Vance has retired his primary election campaign debt as his website says that after a donor has reached the maximum contribution limit for the general election — $2,900 for an individual and $5,000 for a PAC — any additional amounts up to the limits go to “primary debt retirement.”

During the second quarter, Vance’s Senate campaign would have had a deficit if not for $700,000 he loaned it while Ohioans for J.D., which he has used to raise most of his money as of the end of the second quarter, would have had only a $91,626 surplus as of June 30 if it paid the outstanding debt it owed.

Vance’s Senate fund raised $1,003,759 in the second quarter with $525,090 coming from Ohioans for J.D.

Vance’s campaign said the $6.9 million raised in the third quarter “represents a nearly 600 percent increase” over the second quarter.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC connected to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said it would book $28 million in advertising to help Vance in Ohio. It is the third-highest amount for a Republican Senate race in the country behind Georgia and Pennsylvania.

As of Thursday, the fund had spent $16.9 million in Ohio, according to FEC filings.

There are several other outside groups who have spent money on this Senate race, but none come close to the amount of the Senate Leadership Fund.

FF PAC, a major Democratic super PAC, has spent the second most, about $3 million against Vance.

dskolnick@vindy.com