Rob Portman raised more than $2 million during the third quarter, finishing the crucial fundraising period with more than $11 million in cash to spend on his re-election.
The Ohio senator is among the several Republicans the Democrats are targeting in 2016 in the quest to retake the Senate majority they lost to the GOP last year. Portman is running against former Gov. Ted Strickland, the Democrat ousted by Gov. John Kasich in 2010.
The Portman campaign did not yet release a copy of its Federal Election Commission filing, but said in a press release that 87 percent of donations received from July 1 to Sept. 30 came from Ohio donors. “The momentum and enthusiasm behind Rob Portman and the campaign continues to grow across Ohio,” campaign manager Cory Bliss said in a statement.
Portman, running for his second term, is facing a competitive challenge from Strickland, according to most polls. Democrats have to win a net of five Republican-held seats to recapture the majority. In addition to Ohio, a swing state, they’re targeting GOP-held seats in Democratic leaning Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and the battlegrounds of Florida and New Hampshire.
