Ohio's 15th District: Millions Flow Into a Competitive Race

Money is pouring into Ohio's 15th Congressional District.

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, a two-term incumbent, has drawn more than $4 million in contributions this cycle, according to his campaign figures. Political action committees accounted for more than half of that total. The Safety and Affordability PAC, an organization affiliated with President Donald Trump, spent more than $1 million in support of Carey. Other PACs spent an additional $1.6 million to aid his campaign. Carey, a former coal lobbyist who lives in German Village, also received more than $1.6 million from corporations including Marathon Petroleum, Cardinal Health, Huntington Bank and Abbott Laboratories.

Democratic candidate Don Leonard, a former Ohio State professor who lives in the Hilltop neighborhood, raised more than $1.1 million. Left-leaning PACs have added nearly $4 million in advertising spending against Carey. Leonard's campaign said it does not accept corporate PAC money. His campaign said the Republican spending shows party leaders now see the district as competitive. The campaign said no amount of outside money from Donald Trump or Elon Musk can sway Ohio voters.

Libertarian Brennan Barrington, an Ohio State engineering graduate who lives in downtown Columbus, said his campaign did not raise enough to require a Federal Elections Commission disclosure. He said the level of spending shows a problem with the current system. "It should not be worth millions of dollars to determine who won 435 seats in Congress because Congress should not be powerful enough for it to matter that much," Barrington said. His platform calls for ranked choice voting for U.S. Senators and proportional representation within each state for U.S. House seats. He also wants lower taxes and reduced federal regulation, and he opposes U.S. military involvement in overseas conflicts. "We definitely saw that in Afghanistan and I think we're seeing it now in Iran how this is fundamentally Israel's problem and not ours," Barrington said. "And you know you can argue about whether Israel or Gazans or Iran are good or bad guys, but we, I don't think that American taxpayers have a strong enough stake in this issue for us to be spending all this money."

The district covers much of downtown Columbus, southern and western Franklin County, and counties to the south and west including Pickaway County and Miami County. This is the first cycle using the map adopted after Ohio Republicans passed new lines under a mid-decade redistricting process in 2025. The Cook Political Report rates the race as "leans Republican." Polls published by Leonard's campaign and the Democrats' House Majority PAC showed Leonard trailing Carey in August, with support rising afterward. A Hart Research Associates poll funded by Democrats put Leonard at 48% and Carey at 45%. The poll did not include Barrington and did not disclose how many likely voters it surveyed.

Carey has not responded to repeated requests for comment. Leonard's campaign said in a statement that four months ago, everyone but the people of Central Ohio were convinced the seat was unwinnable for Democrats. "What the Don for Ohio campaign has known from the beginning, and the polls now tell us, is that the people of Ohio are done with the hardship, chaos and corruption brought by Republican yes-men like Mike Carey," the statement said. Barrington said a vote for him sends a message to the two-party system rather than making him a spoiler. In Ohio's 9th District in 2024, Libertarian Tom Pruss won more than 4% of the vote while Democrat Marcy Kaptur narrowly defeated Republican Derrick Merrin.