Two of the candidates running in Ohio's 15th Congressional District are receiving millions of dollars in campaign donations, signaling a close race in what is usually a Republican-leaning district.
Together, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey and Democratic candidate Don Leonard, both of Columbus, have received more than $6.5 million from donors and political action committees. Meanwhile, Libertarian candidate Brennan Barrington is running a more budget-friendly campaign and is calling for electoral reform.
Ohio's 15th Congressional District covers much of downtown Columbus, southern and western Franklin County and other counties to the south and west including Pickaway County and Miami County. This is the first cycle that this map will be used after Ohio Republicans passed new maps under a scheduled mid-decade redistricting cycle in 2025.
Carey, the two-term incumbent, received more than $4 million in campaign contributions this cycle. More than half of that came from political action committees.
One of these is the Safety and Affordability PAC, an organization affiliated with President Donald Trump that spent more than $1 million toward Carey.
Another $1.6 million has been spent by other PACs to help Carey's campaign.
Leonard's campaign on the other hand brought in more than $1.1 million, but has been boosted with nearly $4 million from left-leaning PACs running ads against Carey.
Barrington told WOSU his campaign didn't raise enough to require a financial disclosure by the Federal Elections Commission. He said this level of spending is one of the problems with the current political system.
"It should not be worth millions of dollars to determine who won 435 seats in Congress because Congress should not be powerful enough for it to matter that much," Barrington said.
Carey hasn't responded to repeated requests for comment.
Leonard's campaign said in a statement the spending by Republicans shows that party's leadership can see the district is competitive now, and they are scared. The campaign said Leonard represents real change, and no amount of outside money from Donald Trump or Elon Musk can sway Ohio voters.
"Four months ago, everyone but the people of Central Ohio were convinced that this seat was unwinnable for Democrats. What the Don for Ohio campaign has known from the beginning, and the polls now tell us, is that the people of Ohio are done with the hardship, chaos and corruption brought by Republican yes-men like Mike Carey," the statement said.
Leonard's campaign has sworn off corporate PAC money. Meanwhile Carey, a former coal lobbyist who lives in German Village, has received more than $1.6 million from corporations during his campaign such as Marathon Petroleum, Cardinal Health, Huntington Bank, Abbott Laboratories and more.
Even though he is not receiving the same level of financial support, Barrington's candidacy could impact the race if it becomes as close as election forecasters and campaign polls from Leonard suggest.
The Cook Political Report rates the race as "leans Republican." Polls published by Leonard's campaign and the Democrats' House Majority PAC show Leonard trailed Carey in August, but have since boosted his support.
The latest poll from Hart Research Associates showed Leonard with 48% of support and Carey with 45%. The poll, funded by Democrats, didn't ask about Barrington and only disclosed it polled "likely voters," but not how many.
The Libertarian who ran in Ohio's 9th Congressional District in 2024 has an impact on that race. Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur narrowly won against Republican Derrick Merrin while Libertarian Tom Pruss won more than 4% of the vote.
Barrington said reforming the political system is a central tenant of his campaign. Like many Libertarians, he believes government power, especially at the federal level, should be curtailed.
"My proposal is ranked choice voting for U.S. Senators, proportional representation within each state for U.S. House," Barrington said. "So that would eliminate gerrymandering, eliminate spoilers (and) give third parties, which have a small level of dispersed support representation in Congress."
Barrington said a vote for him isn't making him a spoiler, but instead sending a message to the two-party system.
Besides reforming government, Barrington said he wants to reduce taxes and regulations imposed by D.C and fix the U.S. military's involvement in overseas conflicts, especially the Middle East.
"We definitely saw that in Afghanistan and I think we're seeing it now in Iran how this is fundamentally Israel's problem and not ours," Barrington said. "And you know you can argue about whether Israel or Gazans or Iran are good or bad guys, but we, I don't think that American taxpayers have a strong enough stake in this issue for us to be spending all this money."
Barrington said the range of the United States' military commitments encourages other countries not to spend enough on defense.
Barrington lives in downtown Columbus and is an Ohio State graduate with a degree in engineering. Leonard lives in the Hilltop neighborhood and is a former Ohio State professor.
