Being able to self-fund in a political election — particularly in a partisan primary when the timeline is condensed — is a huge benefit.

So when I reported that state Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus had given $250,000 out of his own pocket to his campaign for the Republican nomination for the open 6th Congressional District seat it raised a lot of eyebrows.

Stoltzfus of Paris Township is one of three Republican candidates seeking the party’s nomination in the March 19 primary. The others are state Sen. Michael Rulli of Salem and Rick Tsai of East Palestine.

The primary is earlier than usual because Ohio moves it up to mid-March from early May during presidential years.

There likely wasn’t going to be a Republican primary — or at least a competitive one — this year until the surprising decision by the Youngstown State University’s Board of Trustees on Nov. 21 to hire Bill Johnson, the Republican who has served as the 6th District’s congressman for the past 13 years, as the school’s president. The trustees announced five days prior that it was going to negotiate a contract with Johnson for the job.

Until that announcement, Johnson looked like he was going to be easily reelected to an eighth two-year term in the U.S. House later this year.

An open congressional seat is a rare opportunity — particularly one in which the incumbent resigned early.

Rulli was expecting Johnson to retire after a couple of more terms and possibly look at running to succeed him. But Rulli said he planned to run in 2026 for Ohio secretary of state before Johnson’s retirement from Congress.

Rulli was able to pivot quickly — and so was Stoltzfus, whose state House district includes a portion of Stark County in the 6th Congressional District.

Rulli gave his campaign a $30,400 loan on Dec. 15 and was able to raise $137,145.78 from donors — including $6,600 maximum contributions from several Mahoning Valley business owners — in a little over two weeks in December.

Rulli also created a joint fundraising political action committee, the Rulli Victory Fund, in a hurry. That committee allows Rulli and the Ohio Valley Leadership PAC of Columbus to raise larger amounts of money that is then split between the two groups with Rulli’s campaign getting most of it.

Stoltzfus started raising money Dec. 21.

The first thing he did was write a $250,000 check out of his personal account to his fund.

He raised $33,825.70 from donors during those final few days of December.

Tsai as well as the two Democrats running for the seat — Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown and Rylan Z. Finzer of Bedford Heights — reported raising no money in December. That’s not surprising as the filing deadline was Dec. 20, which didn’t give them much time to seek funds.

Also, none of the three are expected to raise much money even if they had more time.

Money and being elected officials separate Stoltzfus and Rulli from the other three.

Stoltzfus said Feb. 1 that since the beginning of the year he raised almost $150,000 from individual donors.

“Running a campaign is expensive and especially in such a large geographic area,” he said. “My team and I have lofty fundraising goals and aside from connecting directly with voters in all 11 counties of this district, raising money has been a top priority of mine.”

Rulli said of Stoltzfus’ $250,000 loan: “You never want to buy an election. It’s not a great look. I’m not condemning it. We’re going to the people to raise money.”

Rulli said he loaned $30,400 to his campaign “so I could start paying my bills. The bills started coming in immediately.”

Rulli said his fundraising efforts have been “pretty brisk.”

Rulli already has had four fundraisers, including one Thursday.

He has nine total fundraisers planned for the primary.

“They’ll be everywhere,” Rulli said. “We’re taking this race very seriously.”

Rulli and Stoltzfus already have sent out campaign mail critical of each other. Expect more of that.

Also, the two will air television commercials and run digital ads with Stoltzfus already starting to do both.

Rulli said about one-third of his campaign budget is digital advertising.

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.