WASHINGTON — As Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance fell far short of his Democratic opponent Tim Ryan in recent campaign donations, one of the Republican’s chief fundraising vehicles says it prioritizes paying off the campaign’s debt from the May 3 primary he won.
The campaign’s biggest creditor: Vance himself.
He loaned his campaign $700,000 for the primary, Federal Election Commission filings show. And because of a Supreme Court decision in May, in a case brought by Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, Vance and others who loan their campaigns big money have more flexibility to get contributors to pay them back, campaign finance experts said. The court case seems also to have spurred some past candidates, such as former California Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda, to inquire about paying off old loans, filings show.
