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Complaints about JD Vance and his Senate campaign are rising among Ohio Republicans after the conservative populist posted an anemic second-quarter fundraising report.
Vance entered July with $628,804 in cash on hand — a fraction of the $3.6 million war chest reported by Democratic Senate nominee Rep. Tim Ryan. Some Republican operatives in Ohio are placing blame for the disparity squarely with Vance and his campaign operation. These Republicans are accusing Vance of being a lazy fundraiser while griping that even when supporters try to help, campaign officials authorized to and capable of facilitating their assistance are impossible to reach.
“He’s basically taken the Joe Biden approach of hiding in his basement since the demographics and momentum are with Republicans,” an Ohio GOP insider said Monday, using a Republican line of attack against President Joe Biden from 2020 to sting Vance. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t even appear that he’s been making fundraising calls from his basement.”
“J.D. isn’t talking to people, and by people, I mean elected officials — statewide officials, congressmen, including those who have called him,” added an Ohio Republican strategist. “His first stop out of the gate after his primary win was in Pennsylvania. It was for a Trump rally, but still.” Vance’s win in Ohio’s early May primary was credited to his being endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who is popular among Republicans in the Buckeye State.
Vance is responding.
He recently tapped Ohio-based fundraisers who worked for Senate GOP primary foes Matt Dolan, a state senator, and Jane Timken, a former state GOP chairwoman. The former Dolan fundraiser is running point for Vance in northern Ohio, and the former Timken fundraiser is handling the middle of the state. Meanwhile, Vance also has enlisted a Cincinnati fundraiser to spearhead efforts in southwest Ohio, a region rich in Republican campaign cash.
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But Vance’s campaign adamantly rejects suggestions the Republican is coasting because he is favored to beat Ryan this fall. Vance is using the summer months to build a voter turnout infrastructure and meet with key constituencies, such as last week’s tour across the state for roundtable discussions with local law enforcement officials. This week, Vance is in Israel — not Ohio, but a trip likely to play well with social conservatives, an important voting bloc.
“Tim Ryan votes with Joe Biden 100% of the time and is only focused on pushing his Democrat allies AOC and Nancy Pelosi’s radical agenda,” said Vance campaign spokeswoman Taylor Van Kirk, referencing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Vance is hardly the only Republican Senate nominee with a less-than-stellar second-quarter fundraising haul. In Pennsylvania, Dr. Mehmet Oz reported raising $1.6 million; the Democratic nominee, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, accumulated $10 million. In North Carolina, Rep. Ted Budd raised $2.1 million; the Democratic nominee, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, raked in $7.4 million.
Ryan raised a whopping $9.1 million from April 1 through June 30, dwarfing the $2.3 million collected by Vance. The Democrat is using his resources advantage to hit the television airwaves early, and heavily, aiming to frame the race as one between a centrist (himself) and an extreme Republican (Vance). A new Ryan campaign spot is simply a string of Fox News clips of interviews and favorable reporting about the congressman.
“Vance’s campaign is flailing,” claimed a memorandum on the Ohio Senate race issued by the state Democratic Party. Except Vance is still on track to win on Nov. 8 and hold a seat for Republicans that is being relinquished by retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). Ohio is believed to be simply too red and the 2022 election cycle simply too tilted toward the GOP for Vance to be undone by fundraising deficiencies.
That opinion is shared by many, if not all, of Vance’s Republican critics inside and outside of Ohio.
In 2020, Trump defeated now-President Joe Biden in the state 53.5% to 45.2%, and the commander in chief’s job approval rating has plummeted below 40%. Even a frustratingly run Vance campaign is going to have a hard time messing that up, no matter what the current polling shows (Ryan led by 2 percentage points in an internal campaign survey conducted in late June). Indeed, some Vance supporters say those rosy assumptions are to blame for his mediocre fundraising.
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They claim Republican donors — grassroots contributors and those who write big checks — do not feel an urgency to invest in Vance, figuring victory in Ohio is guaranteed. It also is possible wealthy Republican financiers presume GOP megadonor Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist who pumped more than $10 million into the pro-Vance Protect Ohio Values super PAC in the primary, will rescue the candidate if money becomes a pressing problem for his campaign.
“A lot of big donors have been told not to worry about states like Ohio and North Carolina and to instead give money to try and pull off an upset in Colorado or Washington,” a national GOP operative said. “We would all love to win 54 [seats], but we should lock down the easiest races to get to 51 before we try for 54.”
