In terms of money, the 6th Congressional District race is a two-man race with state Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus giving $250,000 to his campaign while state Sen. Michael Rulli raised $167,545.58, including $30,400 from himself.

Candidates running in congressional races had to file campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission for the fourth quarter of 2023 by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. Because the candidate filing deadline was Dec. 20 for the March 19 primary, nonincumbents didn’t have much time to raise and spend money.

Stoltzfus of Paris Township, Rulli of Salem and Rick Tsai of East Palestine filed as Republicans for the unexpired term of Bill Johnson and for the full two-year term that starts in January 2025.

Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown and Rylan Z. Finzer of Bedford Heights filed as Democrats.

The primary for both seats will be March 19 with the special general election for the unexpired term on June 11 and the election for the full two-year term on Nov. 5.

Tsai, Kripchak and Finzer — all of whom have never held elected office — didn’t file reports with the FEC.

Stoltzfus, serving his second two-year term in the Ohio House, reported raising $283,825.70 from Dec. 21 to Dec. 31 with $33,825.70 from contributions and a $250,000 loan from the candidate. Of the money raised by his campaign in the fourth quarter, 88% came from Stoltzfus.

In a statement, Stoltzfus said he was “thankful for the outpouring of support that voters and donors have given me in such a short time,” without mentioning nearly all of the money came from him. In all, he received 20 other contributions.

Stoltzfus said he has raised almost $150,000 from contributors since the start of this year.

Stoltzfus reported having $283,540.63 in his fund as of Dec. 31 after spending only $285.07. He said Thursday that he has more than $365,000 in the fund.

Rulli, who is serving his second four-year term in the state Senate, started raising money Dec. 12 for his congressional campaign.

Rulli raised $167,545.78 with $30,400 — 18% — coming from a loan he gave on Dec. 15. He had 43 other donors.

Rulli received $6,600 maximum contributions — $3,300 for the primary and $3,300 for the general election — from nine area donors, who largely give to Republicans.

They include: Charles T. George of Canfield, CEO of Hapco Inc.; Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman Dave Johnson; Gregory Smith Sr. of Columbiana, Compco Industries’ chairman of the board; Richard Fryda of Columbiana, president and CEO of Compco Industries; and Alex Benyo of Austintown, owner of Brilex Industries.

Rulli’s campaign also created a joint fundraising political action committee with Ohio Valley Leadership PAC of Columbus, which gave $19,760 to the candidate’s fund.

Of the $29,800 raised by the Rulli Victory Fund, $11,600 contributions came from William Siderewicz, president and CEO of Clean Energy Future LLC, which operates the Lordstown Energy Center and will build another electrical generation plant in Lordstown, and from Rose M. Barkett of Hubbard, a kidney dialysis technician.

Siderewicz and Barkett also gave $6,600 maximum contributions to Rulli’s campaign.

After spending $1,104.61 on credit card fees, Rulli’s campaign had $166,440.97 in it as of Dec. 31.

Johnson, a Republican who served for 13 years in Congress, resigned Jan. 21 to become president of Youngstown State University.

The winner of the June 11 special election will fill the remainder of his term.

The district has an 18% advantage for Republicans based on voting trends in partisan statewide elections over the past decade. The seat is considered a safe one for Republicans.

The 6th Congressional District includes all of Mahoning, Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties and portions of Stark and Tuscarawas counties.

14TH DISTRICT

U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, a Bainbridge Republican seeking his seventh two-year term in the House, was the only candidate in the 14th District to file a fourth-quarter campaign finance report.

His two Republican opponents — Elayne Cross of Kent and Ken Poke of Saybrook — as well as the lone Democrat, Brian Bob Kenteres of Mentor, hadn’t created campaign committees as of Thursday to start raising money for the March 19 primary.

Joyce reported raising $283,839.35 in the fourth quarter including $177,530 from PACs. He received $5,000 maximum contributions from PACs representing Comcast Corp., Crowell & Moring LLP, the National Auto Dealers Association, Home Depot and Transdigm Group.

Joyce spent $209,486.49 in the fourth quarter with his largest expenses being $84,723.09 to 814 Consulting of Alexandria, Virginia, for fundraising consulting and event expenses, and $31,815 to Anna Alburger of Bryn Mawr, Pa., for fundraising consulting.

Joyce gave $2,000 to Rulli’s campaign.

For this campaign, Joyce has raised $1,112,430.48 and has spent $696,252.22.

Because of a huge carryover from his previous campaigns, Joyce had $2,371,439.68 in his campaign fund as of Dec. 31.

The district includes all of Trumbull, Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties and all but two communities in Portage County. Trumbull is the second most-populous county behind Lake.

The district has a 10% Republican advantage based on voting trends in partisan statewide elections in the past decade. It is considered a safe Republican district.

Joyce won the district by 23.5% in 2022 over Democrat Matt Kilboy.