COLUMBUS, Ohio -- While running in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate earlier this year, J.D. Vance flatly said he would not accept any contributions from corporate PACs.
But a campaign finance report Vance’s campaign filed on Friday shows that Vance, since winning the Republican Senate nomination in May, has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from corporate PACs in the energy, insurance and real-estate industries.
In a statement for this story, Vance spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk brought up that Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic Senate nominee, also accepts money from corporate PACs. Leading up to the Democratic primary election in May, Ryan’s Democratic opponent repeatedly criticized him for accepting corporate PAC money, but Ryan didn’t break a recent campaign pledge as he did so.
“Tim Ryan has accepted millions of dollars from corporate PACS, half a million dollars from lobbyists and hundreds of thousands of dollars from teachers’ unions,” Van Kirk said. “Our campaign will use all tools at our disposal to defeat Tim Ryan -- the stakes are too high to allow a rubber-stamp radical like Tim Ryan, who votes with Joe Biden 100% of the time, to trick the people of Ohio into giving him a seat in the Senate.”
While it’s perfectly legal, pledging not to take corporate PAC money is a trend that has gained traction among candidates on the political left in the aftermath of the “Citizens United” U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations and labor unions to make unlimited political contributions. But it’s picked up in popularity recently on the political right, too, especially as conservatives and Big Business increasingly have been at odds with each other over social issues. Before dropping out of Ohio’s Republican Senate primary in January, Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland businessman, pledged not to accept corporate PAC donations and frequently attacked Ryan for doing so.
Vance also has been a notable example of a right-wing politician who’s taken an adversarial tone toward businesses, as he’s proposed as a Senate candidate raising taxes on companies that outsource jobs or changing federal law to allow employees to sue companies who require diversity training that includes material on white privilege.
While on Steve Bannon’s podcast in January, Bannon, a far-right political figure in ex-President Donald Trump’s orbit who has positioned himself as a populist, quizzed Vance on the subject.
“Not yet. We haven’t taken any yet,” Vance said. He paused briefly before cleaning up his answer by adding: “Sorry. I’m not going to take corporate PAC money.”
But Friday’s campaign-finance report shows Vance accepted money from at least 11 corporate PACs, including those tied to name-brand companies. Among those that gave $5,000 contributions to Vance’s campaign committee: Continental Resources Inc., an Oklahoma oil-and-gas company; Rock Holdings, a Michigan-based company owned by Cleveland Cavaliers Dan Gilbert; Philips 66, the Houston-based energy company; Marathon Petroleum Company, Nextera Energy, based in Florida and Koch Industries.
Also giving to Vance’s campaign were PACs for General Dynamics, the military contractor, which gave $1,000, and ExxonMobil, which gave $2,000.
In addition, Vance’s campaign-finance report shows he took $6,000 from corporate PACs -- for First American Financial Corp and Traveler’s Insurance -- that specifically designated the money to help Vance pay off campaign debts. Vance’s campaign and its affiliated committees have accumulated $1 million in total debt, $700,000 of which is a personal loan Vance made to help seed his campaign.
All of the corporate PAC donations have come since after Vance won the Republican primary in May.
Among the corporate PACs that gave to Ryan’s campaign during the most recent fundraising quarter were NetJets, the private-jet sharing company, which gave $5,000, Huntington Bank, which gave $3,000, First Solar Inc., which gave $5,000, Sodexo, Inc, which gave $2,900, and Verizon Communications, which gave $1,000.
Besides direct PAC contributions, corporate PACs often give money to other PACS, which then pass the money along not to federal candidates. This can make corporate political giving more difficult to track.
In a statement for this story, Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party, blasted Vance for going back on his word.
“J.D. Vance all too eagerly broke his promise not to accept corporate PAC money because he can’t find enough Ohioans to support his uninspiring campaign because they know he is a fraud who will do or say anything to get elected,” Beyer said.
Vance’s Friday campaign finance report, which showed Ryan outraised and outspent him from April to June of this year while also maintaining a significant campaign cash advantage, has caused some early alarm from Ohio Republicans, who generally have expected Vance to win the race given what’s expected to be a favorable national political climate for the GOP.
Democrats, meanwhile, viewed the report with optimism, seeing it as a sign that Ryan could pull off a win, and with some hoping it might entice national donors, which mostly have sat on the sidelines thus far, to get involved in the race.