YOUNGSTOWN — The race for prosecutor is by far the most expensive one in Mahoning County with nearly $250,000 raised since the start of last year through Feb. 28 by the two candidates — incumbent Democrat Gina DeGenova and Republican Lynn Maro.

The two won’t face each other until the Nov. 5 general election.

During the preprimary period, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, DeGenova had the financial advantage, raising $29,675 to $18,225 for Maro.

Maro raised most of that money — $16,375 — from fundraisers on Jan. 4 and 23, according to her preprimary report.

DeGenova’s largest contributors were Homer Warren of Youngstown, who gave $5,000, and the committee of County Engineer Pat Ginnetti, who gave $3,100.

But from Jan. 1, 2023, to Feb. 28, Maro raised $142,263 to $102,043 for DeGenova.

Despite the advantage in raising more money than DeGenova, Maro had a little less cash on hand as of Feb. 28. DeGenova had $72,090 to $66,824 for Maro.

That’s because Maro’s campaign has spent more.

In the pre-primary period, Maro’s campaign spent $25,767 to $5,583 for DeGenova.

Maro’s largest expense was $10,151 to RMH Creative of Youngstown for political consulting, advertising, printing costs and political signs. She also paid $5,624 to Double Bogey’s in Boardman for expenses related to the Jan. 23 fundraiser and $3,000 to WYTV, a local television station, for advertising.

DeGenova’s largest expense was $3,000 to D&R Consulting of North Canton for political consulting.

DeGenova, a longtime county assistant prosecutor, was appointed Dec. 1, 2022, by county commissioners as acting prosecutor after the retirement of Democrat Paul J. Gains, who held the position for 26 years.

The county Democratic Party voted Jan. 7, 2023, to have DeGenova fill the rest of Gains’ term, which runs through the end of the year.

Maro is a longtime defense attorney.

COMMISSIONERS

Commissioner David Ditzler, a Democrat, raised $2,150 in the preprimary period compared to $13,895 for Geno DiFabio, his Republican challenger.

DiFabio received two $2,500 contributions from Lee DeRose of Canfield and Greg Smith Jr. of Columbiana.

Ditzler received three contributions between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 with the largest being $2,000 from Donna Boak of Canfield.

During the pre-primary period, DiFabio spent $5,807 to $300 for Ditzler.

Since the start of the campaign, Ditzler has raised $41,275 to $28,140 for DiFabio.

As of Feb. 28, Ditzler had $29,970 in his campaign fund compared to $20,038 for DiFabio.

Ditzler is seeking his fourth four-year term.

DiFabio ran in 2022 for a different county commissioner seat. He lost by 0.14 of a percent in that race.

The Mahoning County Republican Party filed a preprimary report showing it raised $8,700 and spent $17,672.

The party paid $9,000 to Premiere Speakers Bureau of Franklin, Tennessee, for a fee for Riley Gaines, an outspoken critic of transgender athletes competing against women. She is the keynote speaker at the party’s Lincoln Day dinner on March 16.

There’s only one contested executive branch race on the March 19 ballot — the Republican primary for clerk of courts between David Shaffer, who unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2016 and is the county party’s endorsed candidate, and Michael P. Ciccone, an attorney. Neither has filed any campaign finance reports with the county board of elections.

Have an interesting story? Contact David Skolnick by email at dskolnick@vindy.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick