Campaign Finance
All candidates are limited to accepting up to $15,499.69 per individual donor, per election.
Candidates are limited to accepting up to $15,499.69 per political action committee (PAC) per election.
Statewide candidates may accept contributions up to $874,182.62 from state political parties per election. Senate candidates may accept up to $174,371.52 from a state political party per election, and candidates for the Ohio House of Representatives may accept up to $86,798.27 per election.
Candidates may spend personal funds on their campaign but are capped at $500 in un-reimbursed personal funds that may accumulate.
Candidates may not accept contributions from a super PAC, corporation, or union.
Filing Deadlines
Candidates are required to file detailed reports on their campaign donations and expenditures. Transparency USA provides accurate, searchable data within days of its release by the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.
See Ohio’s campaign finance report deadlines here.
Additional reports may be required by Ohio filers. If a report is skipped (often because its deadline is close to another), the data from that report is captured in the next update.
Ohio Statewide Office Holders
Ohio statewide office holders (such as the governor and lieutenant governor) serve four-year terms and are up for reelection in non-presidential election years.
The Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly meets every year with regular sessions that last from January through December.
Ohio House Representatives serve two-year terms.
Ohio State Senators serve four-year terms.
Term Limits
Ohio legislators are limited to eight years in office. Statewide officials are limited to two consecutive terms in office.
How We Display Ohio Campaign Finance Data
Campaign finance is complex, with reporting practices that vary widely from state to state. As a reporting system — and not a balance sheet — contributions and expenditures do not balance the way we’d expect if it were an accounting system. In most cases, this does not mean that the data is incomplete, but rather, that entities are following Ohio’s unique reporting requirements.
To help put the numbers in context, we’ve created a state-specific explanation of how we display information reported. Click the link below for a more detailed description of Ohio’s campaign finance data and how their unique system is displayed on TUSA: