Huge percentage of Ohio’s private school vouchers go to kids who never attended public school: Today in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio -About one-quarter of students receiving their first EdChoice Expansion voucher for an Ohio private school 2025 attended public schools the year before. We’re talking about the pushback over the $1 billion in taxpayer dollars spent on private school vouchers on Today in Ohio.Listen online here.Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.Here’s what we’re asking about today:What percentage of first-time recipients of private school vouchers in Ohio previously attended a public school?With Ohio voters increasingly angry about the $1 billion plus of their tax dollars going to private schools – especially to the wealthy – what is the latest move in the Legislature to get this issue under control?How does Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb think that teaming up with Democratic mayors in other states will help him beat back the continued Ohio Legislature’s attacks on cities in Ohio? Is this just a bid to increase his national exposure?With housing in short supply in Northeast Ohio, what is Cleveland Heights doing that might provide some relief?In the founding years of the United States, plenty of farmers and others had personal stills on their property to make their own liquor. U.S. tax laws ultimately made distilling illegal without federal permits, but could that be about to change, partly because of an Ohio case?We still don’t have anything resembling firm details, but President Donald Trump did say in his recent Ohio visit that Cleveland would be home to a new submarine parts center. If he follows through, a big if, what might that look like?Nestle has had a big Solon presence for decades, and a part of that history is ending. What did the company announce to workers?This does not cover the money outside groups are spending to get Jon Husted elected, but how much more has Sherrod Brown raised than Husted in the Senate race ending in two weeks?Small Ohio cemetery grants help. They don’t settle a much bigger obligation.Free lawyers help tenants face landlords in Cleveland. What are the results?Same names, same boards: The tangled interests threatening Cleveland’s lakefront dreamWe have an Apple podcasts channel exclusively for this podcast. Subscribe here.Do you get your podcasts on Spotify? Find us here.RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here.On PodParadise, find us here.And on PlayerFM, we are here.chris (00:00.686)Two weeks from today. Two weeks from today. Hopefully the anxiety ends. Man, are people anxious about election day? It’s today in Ohio, the news discussion podcast from Cleveland.com and the Plane Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Layla Tossi, and Laura Johnston. We got stuff to talk about that’s fun. First, Lisa, we’veWe knew this was an issue, but now we have numbers. What percentage of first time recipients of private school vouchers in Ohio previously attended a public school?Lisa (00:35.51)Yeah, these are statistics from the Ohio Legislative Services Commission report. And they found that 6,100 first-time EdCoice expansion students were already in private schools. So that’s 24% of the over 25,000 students that were, you know, caught up in the initial expansion. 36% of them were in non-public home schools or new to Ohio. That’s 9,300 students. But the largest category was kindergartners. 40%Of the first-time EdChoice expansion people were kindergartners. They say that overall voucher participation rose from 22,600 full-time students in fiscal year 2023, and then it went up to 87,000. The next year it went up to 99,000 in fiscal year 2025. So that’s an increase of 64,400 students. Annual payments rose by $369 million over the same period.yeah. So you know, I I go ahead, go ahead.chris (01:36.536)But the more the moral of the story though is that people who were already going to send their kids to private school or were already sending their kids to private school got a financial bonus from this. This really wasn’t about school choice. This was about transferring the wealth of Ohio to wealthier people who didn’t need the money to make their school choice decisions.Lisa (02:01.122)Well, and you know, th when they removed the income cap in twenty twenty four, things really took off. So, you know, before, you know, at least it was going to lower and you know, lower middle income families, but now anyone can get a piece of that tuition.chris (02:15.778)This was a scam from the moment George Voinovich created it. They made it sound like we’re gonna help the poor kids in the cities get a better education, but the master plan was always to get the taxpayer to pay for private school for the wealthy people that wanted to send their kids there. And the numbers prove it. And there’s outrage about it, which I think will show up a bit on November third. It’s good to get these numbers though. We also have a pretty big project coming.from Laura Hancock about school vouchers and where they’re going and which schools are benefiting from them, that’s pretty eye opening as well.Lisa (02:54.562)Well, she’s already done some great work, Laura Hancock has. I mean, I she discovered that actually enrollment in public schools really didn’t go down that much. You know, because private school students were taking advantage of that. And as Laura’s also reported, you know, private schools have raised their tuition ‘cause they figure, hey, we’ll get some state money on top of what the you know, the parents are paying.chris (03:16.832)Yeah, this has been such a scam on the taxpayers. So much money being flushed down the toilet. We’ll have to see where it goes. You’re listening to today in Ohio. With Ohio voters increasingly angry about the billion plus of their tax dollars going to private schools, especially to the wealthy. What is the latest move or half move in the legislature to get this issue under control? Laura.laura (03:42.451)There’s a bill in the House that would require private schools that take the taxpayer scholarships to disclose more information because they don’t have to give a lot. So this would be detailed enrollment information, like the number of voucher students per grade, the number of students who are homeless or disabled. It’s a list of things. It’s similar to a Senate bill, and it’s dubbed Take the Doe We Gotta Know Act. then the Senate Senate bill was introduced in May bya bipartisan pair and this one itself is a bipartisan pair, but that May one didn’t get a lot of attention. We don’t know that this one will either.chris (04:23.286)Yeah, I I don’t think it’ll pass. They’re saying they want to start a conversation. That conversation started a long time ago and they’re doing nothing to rein in the cost. They’re bringing accountability. If the Supreme Court doesn’t maintain that this is completely unconstitutional, which it clearly is, by the letter of the Constitution, you can’t use public money for private schools. But if they affirm or or if they deny the court rulings, the lower court rulings andallow the program to continue. This bill doesn’t go nearly far enough to to deal with the taxpayer rage about this issue.laura (04:59.598)No, because it doesn’t stop it. It just says you have to be a little more accountable in your record keeping. And it does put the responsibility for collecting that data on the state on the st yeah, the state would have to do it, right? But you’d think that clearly the schools would have to cooperate. Things like how many of the students are English learners, how many scholarship students for the last five years andThat’s information I don’t know why you even wouldn’t want to give over. But this is one of those things. Like we know so much about kids in public schools. They have to take all of these specific state tests. Where if you go to a private school, even on a voucher, you don’t have to take that test. There’s a whole bunch of different ones that you can take, nearly 40 alternatives. So they’re not being held to the same standards, even though they’re getting state money. And it’s a lot of money. Obviously, we know it’s a billion dollars.That’s only about two hundred thousand kids that are getting that education with that money from the state. And consider that one point six million students in traditional schools that are getting about ten billion dollars from the state. So they’re getting more money per student than a lot of kids.chris (06:09.25)Look, this is pure election nonsense. It’s two weeks before election. Let’s get a bill out to make it look like we’re trying to do something because all those lawmakers have been out and about the past few months trying to get votes. They’re hearing from people how angry they are about all of these issues we talk about. So they come up with this phony baloney issue and say, we want to start a conversation. That’s utter nonsense. The conversation has been going on raging for years. It’s time to do something about it.And at the very least, they should put a tight income cap on it. No family making more than seventy five thousand a year should be getting this assistance or something like that. Instead, they come up with this phony, half baked idea and say, hey, we’re trying to do something. No, you’re not. That this just doesn’t do it. Yeah, holding him accountable is fine. Stopping the squandering of all that tax money is better.laura (07:01.862)Well, it’s clear that they understand there is this growing fear over the amount of money that’s going to the the private schools. But they’re still trying to keep their wealthy donors who are might be sending their kids to these private schools happy, right? Like i i it is a very half measure, you’re right.chris (07:19.214)I just wish we could do a clean sweep. W get rid of everybody that we have in the legislature and start fresh because these folks just cannot be trusted to do the right thing. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Well, I haven’t met Tamnay Shaw, the city councilperson who who was recently elected, but I gotta say the position espoused by Tam Nay Shaw in this next story is one that makes a lot more sense than what Cleveland Mayor Just Bibb is saying.How does Bibb think that teaming up with Democratic mayors in other states will help him beat back the continued Ohio legislature’s attacks on cities in Ohio? Is this just a bid to increase his national exposure?Leila (08:02.56)Well, yeah, that’s a big question here because I I’m not sure how this coalition is gonna accomplish what Cleveland hasn’t already been trying to do for years here. Bib has launched this organization called Blue Cities Red States, which brings together fifteen Democratic mayors from eleven states, including places like Atlanta, Memphis, Kansas City. And they all have the same problem, which is they’re trying to govern major cities in states where Republican legislaturesKeep taking away their authority to make decisions for themselves. We’ve certainly seen that happening in Ohio, where lawmakers have repeatedly stepped in to prevent cities from regulating things from guns to tobacco sales, plastic bags. I mean, you name it. I’m pretty sure the state has tried to strip home rule authority from our cities. So Bibbs thinking here is that they’re strengthened numbers. If these mayors join forces, they can build relationships with Republican leaders.push back against these state restrictions and potentially have more influence over national policy. He points to his relationship with Mike DeWine as an example of what’s possible. They’vechris (09:13.294)But stop, stop, stop. J Frank Jackson had the same relationship with Mike DeWine for Mike DeWine’s time in office. There’s nothing special about what Bib has done with DeWine. That’s about DeWine. DeWine knows he’s the governor for all. And so he has helped cities, but it’s got nothing to do with his relationship with Bib.Leila (09:32.447)Yeah. And and I have to say I’d I I don’t quite see how that translates into getting anywhere with the Ohio legislature. I mean, it it’s one thing to work with DeWine, who’s shown this willingness to partner with Cleveland. It’s it’s another thing to convince Republican lawmakers to stop doing something they’ve been doing quite deliberately for many, many years. And it’s not like Cleveland has been trying to fight these battles all by itself. We’ve already got the Ohio Mayors Alliance, which brings together Republican and Democratic mayors to advocate for cities.In Columbus. There are national organizations doing this work too. So I guess my question is: you know, what changes when Justin Bibb gets together with the Democratic mayor of Atlanta or Kansas City? Why would a Republican lawmaker in Columbus who isn’t listening to Ohio’s own mayor suddenly care what a bunch of Democratic mayors from other states have to say? Now, there’s one piece that’s interesting that this coalition is talking about building a national political operation.chris (10:08.376)Yeah.chris (10:13.142)Yeah.Leila (10:29.44)With fundraising and polling and messaging and political advertising around the 2026, 28, 28 elections. Bib wants to help shape the direction of the Democratic Party and demonstrate that pragmatic Democratic mayors can get things done. And I think that’s really where the question about his own political ambitions come in comes in because Bib has been building quite a national profile. He’s been involved in national democratic political events. He’s appeared alongside Pete Buttig.And served as president of the Democratic Mayors Association. So I don’t know, Chris, what do you think is motivating Bibb to create this coalition? Yeah.chris (11:01.61)I I I think it’s exactly what Chuss said. He’s looking for his next step. Look, we anybody that covered City Hall knew what a joke the National League of Cities was. Which is let’s face it, cities are largely democratic. So the National League of Cities, which all the council members and mayors and everybody participated in, they’d all go off on their junkets and say, Hey, this is good for the city of Cleveland. And we all knew it was absolute nonsense. They have that. They have a National League of Cities. It’s a political organization. TheyThey have a voice in Washington. It’s ridiculous to think that Matt Huffman, the House Speaker sitting in Ohio, would care what the mayor of Miami, Florida says. This is utter nonsense. There is nothing this group is going to do that changes the Ohio legislature’s mind. And I reading Bib trying to stumble his way around this, I love that Hannah included Temne Shaw in the story because it just it put a focus on this is.Leila (11:42.88)Right.Leila (11:56.983)Yeah.chris (12:00.608)Utter Baldur Dash. This is Justin Bibb looking for his next step. This will have zero impact in Columbus.Leila (12:07.18)Yeah, and Shaw got up during a council meeting and said exactly that, that this is Bibb’s newest pet project. He’s just interviewing for his next job. And Bib rejects that. He says, you know, being mayor of Cleveland is the best job he’ll ever have. He’s talked about wanting a third term. But here okay, Bib is the thing is that he’s talking about building relationships across party lines, and that that that’s what this is about is is getting stuff done. But he’s created a coalition that actually excludes Republican mayors.And so I wonder whether that’s I mean, that’s totally counterproductive to what he’s trying to accomplish. Because if you’re a Republican lawmaker in Columbus, it’s pretty easy to dismiss a group of Democratic mayors as just another partisan organization. But it’s a lot harder to dismiss Republican mayors from your own state who are telling you that these laws are hurting their communities too. So I find that really puzzling that the issue of local control is not partisan. Republican-led cities have just as much reason to resent the state telling them.chris (12:39.981)Yeah.chris (12:49.164)Yeah.Leila (13:06.784)what they can and can’t do. So wouldn’t the smarter strategy be to build a coalition that makes it harder for Republican legislators to frame this as Democrats versus Republicans? But instead he’s calling it, you know, blue cities, red states. I think that that that’s not just so we’ve got the missed opportunity there, but also that to me is the biggest evidence that his involvement in this coalition is probably more about his positioning within the National Democratic Party.chris (13:19.424)Yeah, it’s justchris (13:32.918)Yeah, he wants to get on the Sunday morning talk shows as the leader of a movement that doesn’t have any any sense to it. I mean if you want to move Matt Huffman in Columbus, this is not the strategy to do it. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Lisa, with housing and short supply in northeast Ohio, what is Cleveland Heights doing that might provide some relief?Lisa (13:54.188)Yeah, this is exciting. And actually, it’s been years in the making for Cleveland Heights. So City Council, I don’t know, did they voted last night? I assume that they approved it. I didn’t look at the update. I’m sorry. Yeah, they were supposed to vote last night to allow accessory dwelling units on residential properties. And that would include things like garage apartments, cottages, and in-law suites, either attached or detached from the main house.chris (14:04.449)I don’t know. I don’t know.Lisa (14:19.126)So in their draft legislation, they say that the you know there would only be one ADU per lot on single family or two family homes. Property owners must live in either the ADU or the main house. The ADU should be 800 square feet or smaller on smaller lots or a thousand square feet on bigger lots. They cannot exceed two stories. They they cannot be more than twenty four feet high.or higher than the primary home. They must have their own kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping area. So ADUs were actually first discussed in Cleveland Heights way back in 2017. It was part of their master plan. Then they commissioned to study on ADUs dur through the County Planning Commission, hosted a design competition and did a whole bunch of cup public outreach. So it looks like, you know, that I think it’s exciting. I I would love to be able to have an ADU on my property.chris (15:15.328)It would change the nature of backyards though. If it when you’re sitting in your backyard having your little fire barbecue right now, as many people in Cleveland Heights have garages that are detached from their houses and they’re in the back of their lot. If you started putting apartments on top of those when the people right next door are out having bonfires and things, it’ll change the chemistry of the neighborhood. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing at all. there is obviously a need for some more.Lisa (15:18.296)True.chris (15:44.696)housing in Cleveland Heights, but it is a neighborhood changer, I think, in a way that will have to play out.Lisa (15:53.204)No, no, I understand what you’re saying, ‘cause people feel that l that their backyards are more private, although in my neighborhood, if you just walk past the edge of the house, you can see five street, you know, yards down in either direction. And also there are a lot of sheds already in people’s properties. You know, I guess that the difference would be someone would be living in them, but I can count seven sheds just from my backyard.chris (16:14.528)A lot of the garages in Cleveland Heights are pretty ramshackle. So I guess if you’re going to turn those into two story buildings with residences on top, you would have to tear down. Interesting proposal to and and it could do a lot for increasing population, increasing the tax base. Cleveland Heights has almost no business taxes coming in. So increasing the population helps provide services.Leila (16:39.138)I think I love this idea actually. And I think that it also gives you the opportunity to have multiple generations of your family living close to one another, with in harmony. You know what I mean? You could bring your your your aging parents to live in one of these and and you know have their own private space, or we know that lots of young young adults are having a hard time launching in this economy.Lisa (16:40.546)Mm-mm.Lisa (16:47.202)Mm-hmm.Lisa (17:03.928)Mm-hmm.Leila (17:05.846)And that would be a great way for them to still have a little independence and privacy, but still be in close proximity to their family. I love this idea and I wish more community. I would absolutely do it.chris (17:14.55)Would you do it? Would you would build one in your backyard?Lisa (17:15.404)The me too.Leila (17:19.584)I would I would absolutely do it. I would I would love to have this option for I mean, I I’m in this situation where I’m seeing parents getting older. I’d love to be able to bring, you know, one of my parents w one day to come be close to us so I can but still to have that space so that you can harmoniously coexist, but still, you know, yeah.Lisa (17:20.77)Mm-hmm.Lisa (17:38.592)Mm-hmm.chris (17:38.838)Yeah, but y you’re talking about some pretty advanced construction though, because you’d have to run the plumbing and the sewer pipes back to it. You d the power is not that hard because it’s all above ground. But the water lines, the sewer lines, and all of the things that go with a house. No, no, I I what I’m s what I’m suggesting is this could lead to a pretty serious construction boom in in Cleveland Heights. I don’t you know, do you run gas lines or do you make it all electric?Leila (17:54.582)I hey, I didn’t say I could afford it.laura (17:57.262)Ha ha ha.chris (18:08.642)There there’s a lot of interesting aspects to this that that could lead to kind of an economic boom. And like you said, it it with an aging population in Northeast Ohio and not many answers for dealing with it. This is an answer for that allows people to take care of their parents while still giving them their privacy and let’s face it, Layla, keeping your own privacy because they’re in the backyard. They’re not in your house, right?Leila (18:29.623)Right.Exactly.Lisa (18:35.36)That’s right.chris (18:37.39)All right, you’re listening to today in Ohio. We’ll have to get back and make sure that they passed it. In the founding years of the United States, plenty of farmers and others had personal stills on their property and make their own liquor. In 1868, the U.S. government decided it wanted taxes on every distilled ounce. They figured that people with home stills would hide them, and they made it illegal to distill your own booze.That could be about to change because of an Ohio case. What’s going on, Laura?laura (19:09.938)So this is indirectly involving Ohio because there are two cases, as with a guy in Texas, that challenge this ban in court. Because John Reim, he’s a Newark brewport owner, he wanted to try making whiskey the way he made beer at home. But this requires breaking a hundred and sixty-year-old federal band. And on Monday, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge because they these cases both went to federal appeals courts in the spring. They had different rulings.Federal government said the Supreme Court should settle the dispute. They urge the justices to take the Texas case, Scott McNutt, because Reim’s case a little more complicated. There were also questions about whether he fa faced a real threat of prosecution. So yeah, this is going. And I expect that a lot of people will be really interested in the result, thinking of how home brewing really changed the beer scene here and everywhere else.chris (20:05.9)Yeah, Jimmy Carter and signed into law the the ability for people to homebrew. And I’ve done that over the years. I’ve even made gluten free beer, believe it or not, because I can’t have gluten. but but I but because of that, I I was curious how hard would it be to distill this stuff? And the laws on that are really vicious. I mean, you distill an ounce of liquor, you can be hit with I think it’s a ten thousand dollar fine, and it althoughThere is an underground industry. You can see it if you search online. People sell stills all the time. There is an underground group of people, just like there used to be at marijuana, who are distilling liquor and boasting about it online and laying it out. Every you could pretty much have a still legally in any state except North Carolina. This is interesting because it could do what what homebrewing did for beer. You could have a whole bunch of hobbyists or.You can’t have a whole bunch of people blowing up their houses because distilling liquor, if it’s not done right, you have the vapor of alcohol, which is very explosive, floating around. And if it gets near a flame, your house could blow up. So I do think there’s some safety aspects to this you didn’t have with home brewing. It’s interesting. We’re going to have somebody, maybe Mark Bonick, go back and look at the history of how distilling was part of the the fabric of America.laura (21:04.931)Ha ha ha.chris (21:30.648)For more than a hundred years, or almost a hundred years, and then shut down by the tax hungry government.laura (21:37.468)Well then I assume during prohibition it was also happening. Yeah, but but all alcohol was illegal during prohibition. So weren’tchris (21:40.854)No, it’s been illegal all along. I mean it’s been itYeah, but yeah, but people were still distilling it. I mean, like the revenuers, I mean, it’s a it’s a fascinating long term thing. This guy’s arguing that the government’s desire to collect taxes doesn’t give it the right to prohibit anybody from distilling. It just should go after the taxes. The government says a home distiller can hide so that we don’t know that they’re they’re making a gallon of alcohol and so they outlawed it. And it’s a fascinating argument. Look.laura (21:48.933)Yeah, yeah.chris (22:14.86)Nobody thought the Supreme Court would say sports betting is legal, which they did in the New Jersey case. They overturned what everybody thought was established law. This could do the same thing. I’ll be fascinated to see how this one ends and what comes next.laura (22:18.94)Mm-hmm.laura (22:29.424)Well, we’ll be seeing written arguments filed over the winter. They expect oral arguments in late February or early March and a decision potentially in June.chris (22:38.528)You are listening to Today in Ohio. We still don’t have anything resembling firm details, but President Donald Trump did say in his recent Ohio visit that Cleveland would be home to a new submarine parts center. If he follows through, and that is a big if, what might it look like, Layla?Leila (22:57.388)Well, what Trump is proposing is a facility that would essentially serve as a parts supply and refurbishment center for the Navy’s submarine fleet. And there’s actually a pretty significant need, it turns out, for something like this, because the Navy has been struggling for years with maintenance delays. Submarines need replacement parts, specialized workers, and space in shipyards to undergo repairs. And when any of those things isn’t available, you’ve got submarines just sitting around waiting instead of.Being out on missions. So the idea behind this Cleveland facility is that it would receive new submarine components and refurbish used ones and maintain a reserve of spare equipment for five different classes of submarines. Basically, the Navy wants to have critical parts ready to go when they’re needed rather than having repairs held up because somebody’s waiting for replacement. Now, there’s a second piece to Trump’s proposal that’s separate from Cleveland. He also wants to explore building a fifth public Navy shipyard, whichWould help address another big problem, which is that there simply isn’t enough space in existing shipyards to handle all the maintenance work. And the numbers on that problem are pretty staggering. The government accountability office recently projected that submarines awaiting retirement could spend more than 14,000 combined days just waiting for dry dock space over a five-year period, and that costs billions of dollars. But now that’s a separate problem from the parts shortages that the Cleveland facility would address, but it gives you an idea of how strained the Navy’s maintenance system is.The big caveat here is that we’re still a very long way from knowing whether Cleveland is actually getting this facility. Trump announced it during his campaign rally in Youngstown, but the city of Cleveland said afterward that it didn’t have any specific details. We don’t know where it would go, how big it would be, how many people it would employ, or, you know, what it would cost. And the presidential directive doesn’t actually authorize construction of a completed facility. It just calls for a plan. So the deadline for that plan is November eleventh.And even then actually moving forward would depend on funding.chris (24:57.292)Yeah, I you can’t trust a word this guy says. He lies all the time and he’s trying to get people to vote Republican on November third. But if it came, it would be significant. You’re listening to Today in Ohio on the other side, bad economic news for Northeast Ohio. Nestle has had a big soul and presence for decade and part of that history is ending. Lisa, what did the company announce to its workers?Lisa (25:21.622)Yeah, so Nestle will be closing its manufacturing plant on its Solon campus by the end of next year. So what they’re doing is they’re moving production of their professional solutions food pouches to South Carolina. These are pouches for commercial customers that hold things like sauces, gravies, and ingredients and so forth for large-scale food preparation operations. The number of layoffs is to be determined. The warn notice, which they have to file, you know, saying that they’re going to lay people off, will probably be filed.Next March. So the rest of the campus is not affected. Research and development, corporate functions, several business units will remain in Solon. Also, not affected is their distribution center for frozen food in Streetsboro and their factory on West 25th Street here in Cleveland. 3,000 workers work at seven Ohio facilities for Nestle. They will continue to maintain their significant Ohio presence.They say they want to build on capabilities that are in place elsewhere, and they feel that’s the most sustainable path forward, and they said they will be helping their affected employees.chris (26:28.034)Yeah, so they’re not ending their presence but but it’s pretty significant that the old it this goes back to Stoffer’s days is closing down.Lisa (26:30.273)NoLisa (26:38.624)Yeah, and you know, th I understand. Apparently they have a bigger operation for these food pouches in South Carolina, so they figured might as well move it there instead of improving it here. But yeah, it’s a huge campus and thank goodness they’re staying in northeast Ohio.chris (26:52.982)You are listening to today in Ohio. This does not cover the money outside groups are spending to get John Houston elected, but how much more has Sherrod Brown raised than Houston in the Senate race ending in two weeks? Laura.laura (27:06.406)This is a pretty big difference. From July through September, Brown’s campaign brought in $23.1 million. Compare that to Houston’s 4.85 million. And this is the fifth quarter in a row that Brown has raised more than Housted. However, because of a lot of outside money, it doesn’t look that lopsided. So we’re looking at Impact has is a company that tracks political advertising. And so far, $422 million been sent.Aside or spent on TV. That’s a huge amount of money. $61 million short of the record in the 2024 Senate race. So we’re probably gonna break that. And about 350 million of that is outside ads, like outside groups aside from the campaign.chris (27:53.1)You can tell that people looking to end the the ridiculous period of Donald Trump’s corruption see a chance. And so they’re pouring money in because w something that would have been unthinkable two years ago is very thinkable now. And if if the Senate or the House or both become democratic, the brakes are put on the corruption, the abuse, the everything thatlaura (28:16.316)Mm-hmm.chris (28:19.682)He’s done. I mean, d remember, Donald Trump is a convicted criminal. He is a bad guy. And the Congress, especially our two Ohio senators, have just been rubber stamps, which has upset people. I hear from people all the time that are very upset that Congress has not done its job as a check on the executive power. I think that explains why this money is pouring in.laura (28:42.512)Yeah, that could. Brown can point to the fact that he’s got a lot of grassroots support. So he’s got two hundred thousand donors giving an average donation of forty dollars. So we might be able to go back to them as the election creeps closer and saying, Do you have more money because they haven’t given the most? Whereas Houston’s got a big push from the cryptocurrency industry, which is showing you who’s backing who, right? He’s also got former governor Ba Bob Taft, State Senator Jane Timkin.Ohio Chamber of Commerce President Steve Sivers, and a whole bunch of data center interests, including Amazon’s PAC and Anthropic.chris (29:16.166)Yeah. Yeah, even though he tries to distance himself from it. Look, the crypto folks were the ones that got Bernie Moreno elected. They poured money into that two years ago. It it’s a different atmosphere now. I don’t think people are buying it. And the ads are so dumb. They’re so over the top clumsy that I don’t think anybody believes them. Solaura (29:37.084)I know, when you’ve got like veterans talking about how Brown let them down, I’m like, How is this even like on TV? And that’s why we’re doing our attack ads and and f fact checking.chris (29:45.908)Yeah. Yeah, well the fact checking is working. People are seeing that they’re being lied to. It’s one of the more successful things we’ve done. You’re listening to today in Ohio, that does it for our Tuesday episode. Thank you, Lisa, Layla, and Laura, and thank you for being with us. We’ll be back on Wednesday to talk about the news.