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Wilson spent twice as much as Johnson
YOUNGSTOWN
During the final three weeks of his failed re-election bid, U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson’s campaign spent almost twice as much money as Republican Bill Johnson, who defeated him.
Wilson, of St. Clairsville, D-6th, spent $520,787.50 between Oct. 14 and Nov. 22, most of it on and before the Nov. 2 election, according to his post-general-election report filed with the Federal Election Commission.
All U.S. House candidates had to file the reports with the FEC before midnight Friday.
Johnson spent $264,561.56 in the same time period. Like Wilson, most of Johnson’s spending was before the election. His biggest post-election expense, by far, is repaying a $14,000 loan Nov. 9 that he gave to his congressional campaign committee Oct. 22.
Johnson lent his committee $59,050 during the campaign, so he’s still owed $45,050. He also gave $9,581.49 in nonrefundable contributions to the campaign.
Johnson beat Wilson by 5 percentage points in the Nov. 2 election. The 12-county 6th District includes all of Columbiana County and about half of Mahoning County.
Wilson lent $80,000 to his campaign Oct. 24. He said he expects to recoup about $50,000 of that. Wilson hadn’t lent any money to his campaign since his first congressional race in 2006.
Overall, Wilson spent $1,251,474.48 on the campaign. He raised $1,058,090.50 for the campaign. Because of money he brought into this election cycle, Wilson still had $82,497.87 in his campaign fund as of Nov. 22.
In comparison, Johnson raised $662,854.90 for his campaign and spent $602,931.67.
Wilson received $704,743.95 from political action committees compared with $124,780 for Johnson. Also, most of Johnson’s PAC money came in the final weeks of the campaign when several political experts called this race a “toss-up” after months of predicting it would “lean Democrat” or be a “likely Democrat” victory.
In the 17th District, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Niles, beat Republican Jim Graham of Cortland 53.7 percent to 30.2 percent. Independent candidate James A. Traficant Jr. received 16.1 percent of the vote.
Though the race wasn’t competitive, Ryan raised $1,074,403.47 and spent $1,238,751 on his re-election bid.
Because of money he had going into this election, Ryan had $145,103.32 in his campaign fund as of Nov. 22.
In comparison, Graham raised $69,807.27 and spent $71,052.48, leaving him with a campaign deficit of $1,245.21.
Ryan received $634,546.37 in PAC money. Graham received no PAC money.
Traficant, of Poland, didn’t file paperwork with the FEC to open a congressional campaign fund.
Candidates who don’t raise or spend at least $5,000 don’t have to file with the agency.
The 17th District includes most of Trumbull County and about half of Mahoning County.