Sen. Mike Braun
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The Republican congressional delegation representing Columbus reported raising about $3.1 million during the third quarter of the year and now sits atop a collective war chest of more than $6.9 million.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, who is seeking re-election next year, raised by far the most among the delegation, which also includes Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, and Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana.
Friends of Todd Young Inc., Young’s campaign committee, reported around $2.73 million in receipts in its third quarter report, which runs from July 1 to Sept. 30, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Braun’s committee — Mike Braun for Indiana — reported $298,240 in receipts during the third quarter.
Pence, whose seat is up for re-election next year, reported that his committee — Greg Pence for Congress — reported about $158,695 in receipts during the same time period.
Overall, the delegation has reported a collective $8.48 million in receipts so far this year.
Receipts
Just over half of the contributions that Young’s campaign committee reported — $1.42 million out of $2.73 million — came from individuals, federal records show.
Young’s campaign also reported $592,237 in contributions from political action committees, which accounted for about 22% of all contributions that the campaign reported during the third quarter.
The largest single contributor was WinRed, the GOP’s online fundraising platform, which accounted for $237,920 in contributions to Friends of Todd Young.
Young’s campaign received at least 53 contributions totaling $96,500 from 40 political action committees related to the health care or insurance industries, including biopharmaceutical companies, health insurers, medical device makers, healthcare associations and multinational pharmaceutical companies.
That includes PACs affiliated with Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Merck &Co. Inc., Quest Diagnostics, Johnson &Johnson and the Federation of American Hospitals, among others.
About 72% of the contributions that Mike Braun for Indiana reported in the third quarter were from individuals, though these contributions only made up about half of the total funds raised.
The two largest transactions listed by Braun’s campaign were $89,347 and $13,353, both from Braun Solutions Committee, a joint fundraising committee that lists Mike Braun for Indiana and a leadership PAC sponsored by Braun as participants.
Braun’s campaign also reported contributions from several industry groups, including National Tank Truck Carriers Inc., International Franchise Association, National Milk Producers Federation, among others.
Nearly 96% of the contributions reported by Greg Pence for Congress were from individuals and 84% of the transactions listed were $200 or less, federal records show.
The largest single contribution to Pence’s campaign was $11,066 from WinRed, though the second-term congressman also received contributions from the healthcare, defense and automotive industries, including General Motors Co. and Abbott Laboratories Employee Political Action Committee.
Disbursements
Young’s campaign reported $716,190 in disbursements in its third-quarter report.
The largest expenses for Young’s campaign included $101,646 for payroll, $88,921 for advertising, $57,482 for finance consulting and $30,040 for software.
Pence’s campaign reported $210,997 in disbursements, more than half of which were related in one way or another to direct mailing, accounting for $139,711 in expenses.
The second-term congressman also reported spending $21,250 on political consulting.
Braun’s campaign reported $45,875 in disbursements, including $23,409 in fundraising consulting and $9,056 in compliance consulting.
Local contributions
Bartholomew County residents also have been actively spending their money on politics, making 4,439 contributions to 118 campaign or political action committees during the first nine months of the year, totaling about $414,967, federal campaign finance records show.
Young received the most contributions from Bartholomew County residents of any candidate, with two of his committees — Friends of Toddy Young Inc. and Young Victory Committee — bringing in 39 contributions for a total of $43,360.
Two of Pence’s committees — Greg Pence for Congress and Greg Pence Victory — reported receiving a combined $11,327 in contributions from Bartholomew County residents, while two of Braun’s committees — Mike Braun for Indiana and Braun Solutions Committee — reported raising $10,650 in Bartholomew County.
Former President Donald Trump has remained one of the top recipients of political contributions in Bartholomew County this year despite not having announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election or any other elected office.
Trump’s committees — Make America Great Again PAC, Trump Make America Great Again Committee, Save America and the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee —received a combined total of 85 contributions for nearly $2,723 from January to September.
By comparison, President Joe Biden’s committee — Biden for President — received 15 contributions for $691 from Bartholomew County residents over the same time period.
The losers of two highly publicized elections in Georgia last year, former Rep. Kelly Loeffler and former Sen. David Perdue, both Republicans, also were among the top recipients of contributions from Bartholomew County residents.
Loeffler’s committee received 56 contributions from Bartholomew County residents, totalling $4,544. Perdue received 19 contributions for $1,569.
However, Republicans weren’t the only ones receiving contributions from Bartholomew County residents.
ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s online fundraising platform, outraised WinRed in Bartholomew County.
ActBlue received 1,903 contributions from local residents, totalling $22,483, compared to WinRed, which received 940 contributions for a total of $19,963.
The only Democratic candidate among the top-10 recipients of contributions from Bartholomew County residents was Steven Olikara, who is running for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. Olikara received 3 contributions for $2,000 from local residents from January to September.
Among political action committees, the Cummins Inc. Political Action Committee, or CIPAC, received the most contributions, with 537 contributions totaling $25,921.
