Ohio Gov. DeWine receives $15 million, with Ohio Republican State Central & Executive State Candidate Fund as top donor


Editor’s Note: This article incorrectly listed the Ohio Republican Party as a top donor to Gov. Mike DeWine, with donations totally more than $520,000. Those donations should have been attributed to the Ohio Republican State Central & Executive State Candidate Fund.

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine is the number one fundraiser in state politics in the 2022 election cycle so far. According to campaign finance reports made to the Ohio Secretary of State, the governor received $15,081,386 in total contributions and spent $6,800,936 between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. DeWine is running for re-election in 2022.

Gov. DeWine is a member of the Republican Party and first assumed office in 2019.

Contributions to Gov. DeWine

Of the $15 million already reported in the 2022 election cycle, 18.3 percent came from the top 10 donors.

Top Donors to Gov. DeWine (1/1/2021 – 6/30/2022)

RankTotal AmountDonor NameDonor Type
1.$1,959,075.31Ohio Republican State Central & Executive Committee State Candidate FundENTITY
2.$520,784.33Ohio Republican PACENTITY
3.$44,804.41John A PayiavlasINDIVIDUAL
4.$37,825.80Leslie MillerINDIVIDUAL
5.$35,650.00Eric WagenbrennerINDIVIDUAL
6.$35,000.00Mandi and Brian YeagerINDIVIDUAL
7.$33,000.00Sheet Metal Workers Local 33 Akron District CopeENTITY
8.$32,699.59Barbara J SiemerINDIVIDUAL
9.$32,404.41Dean KereiakesINDIVIDUAL
10.$30,608.82George A SkestosINDIVIDUAL

Expenditures by Gov. DeWine

On the expenditures side, Gov. DeWine reported $6.8 million with 93.8 percent of all spending going to the 10 payees topping the list. 

Top Expenditures by Gov. DeWine (1/1/2021 – 6/30/2022)

RankTotal AmountPayee NamePayee Type
1.$4,906,585.88SRCP Media IncENTITY
2.$603,276.00Arena OnlineENTITY
3.$323,568.22Tarrance GroupENTITY
4.$150,000.00Deep Root Analytics LLCENTITY
5.$130,473.37Ohio Alliance of Boys and Girls ClubsENTITY
6.$98,851.76Dot the I Design and GraphicsENTITY
7.$52,381.97StripeENTITY
8.$48,000.00America Rising CorpENTITY
9.$39,581.47Kessler CreativeENTITY
10.$31,794.10ColorartENTITY

How Gov. DeWine’s fundraising compares to other governors

Among elected officials holding the same level of state office, fundraising varies widely. A number of factors, including whether an incumbent officeholder is running for reelection, influence donor activity. Here is how fundraising by Ohio Gov. DeWine compares to the 10 other governors with campaign finance data available from Transparency USA in 2022:

Fundraising reported by 11 U.S. governors in the 2022 election cycle

The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active Ohio PACs submitted to the  Ohio Secretary of State. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines. State or federal law may require filers to submit additional reports.

Name of ReportReporting PeriodDeadline
2021 Annual1/1/21 – 12/31/221/31/2022
2022 Pre-Primary1/1/22 – 4/13/224/21/2022
2022 Post-Primary1/1/22 -6/3/226/10/2022
2022 Semiannual1/1/22 – 6/30/227/29/2022
2022 Pre-General1/1/22 – 10/19/2210/27/2022
2022 Post- General1/1/22 – 12/9/2212/16/2022
2022 Annual1/1/22 – 12/31/221/31/2022

This article is a joint publication from Ballotpedia and Transparency USA, who are working together to provide campaign finance information for state-level elections. Learn more about our work here.