Republican Michael Rulli raised $139,600 between April 1 and July 1 during an abbreviated campaign to fill the vacant 6th Congressional District seat in a special June 11 election with almost one-third of the money arriving after he won the race.

Rulli of Salem raised more than four times as much money in those three months as Democrat Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown, who Rulli defeated by 9.7%.

Kripchak raised $31,429 between April 1 and July 1.

Both emerged as their party’s nominee from the March 19 primaries for the special June 11 election for the unexpired term and will face each other again in the Nov. 5 election for a full two-year term.

Data from the Federal Election Commission shows that of the amount Rulli raised for the special election, 31.7% of it came after the June 11 election. He also received $14,000 on the date of the election. Between before the election and the date of it, Rulli received 41.6% of his funding.

Between May 23 and July 1, referred to as the postspecial election filing period by the FEC, Rulli raised $70,676 with $44,107 coming after the June 11 special election, according to his latest report. That means 62.4% of the money Rulli raised in the postspecial period arrived after the June 11 election and 82.2% came on or after June 11.

Of that postspecial amount, $60,500 came from political action committees, including $40,500 after the June 11 election, and $10,176 from individual donors, including $3,732 after the election.

Among the PACs that gave Rulli contributions of $5,000 after June 11 are those representing Realtors, credit unions, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a conservative anti-abortion group, and U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, a Texas Republican.

Rulli received $5,000 contributions on June 11 from the PACs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Koch Industries, one of the largest Republican committees in the country. Koch’s PAC was Rulli’s largest single donor for the campaign, giving him $15,000.

Rulli’s lone $5,000 PAC contribution in the postspecial election period before June 11 came from the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

Including the Republican primary, Rulli raised $705,069 for his successful election as of July 1.

Kripchak raised $31,429 between April 1 and July 1 with $14,393 collected during the postspecial election period between May 23 and July 1.

Kripchak raised $3,080 after the June 11 special election and received a $500 contribution on the date of the election. He received no PAC money.

Kripchak raised about 10% of his funds for the special election after the June 11 date and 21.4% of the money he collected in the postspecial election period after the election date.

Including the primary, Kripchak raised $36,656 for his campaign as of July 1.

Less than three months after the March 19 primary, Rulli and Kripchak faced each other in a June 11 special election because of the resignation of Republican Bill Johnson. Johnson resigned, effective Jan. 21, to become Youngstown State University president after 13 years in the U.S. House.

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.

In the June 11 special election, Rulli won nine of the counties. He lost Mahoning County, which he represented in the state Senate for more than five years, by 35 votes and Tuscarawas County.

EXPENSES

During the special election period, Rulli spent $131,452, including $86,580 in the postspecial period between May 23 and July 1.

Of the money spent in the postspecial period, $43,794 was after the June 11 special election.

Rulli’s largest postspecial expenses were $30,180 to Spencer Federal LLC of East Liverpool for campaign consulting, printing and mailing campaign literature; $22,898 to Ax Media of Kansas City, Missouri, to buy commercial time; $8,023 to Grand Valley Consulting LLC of Washington, D.C., for fundraising consulting; and $7,463 to H&F Strategies LLC of Boardman for campaign consulting.

Since Rulli got into the race for the congressional seat in December, he raised about $705,000 and spent about $645,000 — most of it to win the March 19 Republican primary.

As of July 1, Rulli had $60,243 in his campaign fund.

Rulli’s fund would have a deficit if he paid back $52,450 he owes in debt and a $30,400 loan he gave his campaign on Dec. 15.

Rulli is slowly reducing his debt, decreasing it by $7,463 between the prespecial and postspecial filing periods. His largest debt is $37,719 to Media Ad Ventures of Springfield, Virginia, for media advertising purchases during the Republican primary.

Kripchak’s campaign has an actual deficit of $3,811 after spending $38,572 during the special election period, including $32,886 in the postspecial period between May 23 and July 1.

Kripchak’s largest expenses in the postspecial period were $22,376 to Colossus Strategies and Consulting of Canfield and $6,657 to Meta Platforms Inc. of Menlo Park, California, for Facebook ads.

The Colossus expenses weren’t detailed in Kripchak’s postspecial report with the FEC. But Colossus ran Kripchak’s campaign and previous expenses to the company were for media consulting and texting constituents.

Since Kripchak got into the race, he raised $36,656 and spent $40,467 including small amounts collected and spent for the primary.

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