A few days after Ohio’s Democratic US Senator announced he raised a historic amount of money in the last three months, the Republican who wants a rematch to unseat him has released his fundraising figures.
Republican state treasurer Josh Mandel says he raised nearly $1.5 million in the first three months of this year. That includes donations to Mandel’s campaign and to a joint fundraising committee that supports him. Last week the incumbent Democrat, Sherrod Brown, announced his campaign had raised $2.4 million – the most for him ever during a single quarter of a non-election year. And right now Brown has nearly $5 million in his campaign account, which is twice the cash reported on hand by Mandel. And they’re likely going to need it. The 2012 Brown-Mandel contest was the most expensive US Senate race in Ohio history. And Mandel may have to also run in a primary.