Political candidates in Ohio now have the green light to charge their state campaign accounts for personal security expenses, according to new guidance from the state agency that interprets and enforces state campaign finance law.
The Ohio Elections Commission established some limitations in a written advisory opinion issued last week. Candidates must reasonably believe their safety is at risk. The amount they spend must be “reasonable” and “reasonably” related to their safety, the advisory says. But the commission said candidates also can use campaign funds for security measures for their immediate family and their personal homes.
The change amounts to a legal recognition of a disturbing recent trend of acts of violence against a bipartisan list of public officials, including assassination attempts against President Donald Trump, the arson at the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and others.
It also reverses a previous decision from 2008 in which Marc Dann – then a Democrat Ohio state attorney who resigned amid a cloud of scandal – was ordered to repay $40,000 that he’d charged to his campaign to install a security system at his home.
Phil Richter, the executive director of the Ohio Elections Commission, said times have changed in light of recent events, including the June assassination of a Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Kirk’s death last month. Members of the elections commission, a bipartisan panel of people appointed by the governor, cited both situations in pushing to loosen the standards to not require an elected official to cite a specific threat for security expenses to be permitted.
“I think it’s just the nature of the beast has changed radically since back then,” Richter said.
The Ohio Elections Commission issued the guidance in response to a July 28 request from McTigue & Colombo, a law firm that often handles prominent Democrats’ campaign finance issues. The firm didn’t specify who had hired it or what had prompted them to do so. But Allison Russo, the former ranking Democrat in the Ohio House and now a candidate for Secretary of State, said in an interview she asked for the legal opinion.
During the pandemic, Russo led the Democrats in committee opposing anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown legislation, which she said spurred enough “testy” moments to invest in a household security system. She said she doesn’t generally fear for her safety but has passed along more than enough perceived threats to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. She said she hasn’t ruled out the idea of hiring some kind of personal security detail as she campaigns across the state.
Ohio is now the 15th state to formally approve using campaign funds for security expenses, according to the Vote Mama Foundation, an advocacy group that studies political participation by mothers.
“Political violence is a direct threat to our democracy, and Campaign Funds for Security is an important tool to counteract this growing problem,” the group’s founder and CEO, Liuba Grechen Shirley, said in a statement. “Ohio’s decision to authorize this vital resource is a great step towards helping candidates and elected officials serve their communities without fear — so democracy remains open to everyone willing to lead.”
Politicians are cagey about threat and security
Many are reluctant to discuss the problem publicly.
But state political consultants and politicians have described in recent months how the assassinations have spurred candidates and elected officials to consider increasing their personal security. A prominent anti-abortion rally held earlier this month at the Ohio Statehouse featured visible teams of police countersnipers posted on nearby high-rise buildings, including the Riffe state office tower.
“Most elected officials that I’ve spoken with are concerned about their security and wonder what could be next,” said Mark Weaver, a Republican political consultant and lawyer who’s based in the Columbus area.
After the June shooting in Minnesota, Gov. Mike DeWine quietly imposed increased measures meant to guarantee legislative leaders’ personal security, which involved sending state highway patrol troopers to patrol their houses, lawmakers said at the time.
Senate President Rob McColley, one of the three most powerful Republicans in the state, also described a short period after Kirk’s murder in which Ohio State Highway Patrol Officers provided additional security outside his personal home.
These kinds of hazards stop talented people from becoming public servants, he said.
“I’m lucky that I live in a good community. I’ve never really felt overly concerned about my public safety, but it is difficult in some cases to explain to your children,” he said.
Sen. Nickie Antonio, the ranking Democrat in the state Senate, said Democrats have requested enhanced security in the building. The chamber’s sergeant at arms, she said, now stands guard outside their caucus meetings.
Political violence has been a crosscurrent through her lifetime dating back to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, Antonio said. But the moment feels like it “intensified” after the assassinations in Minnesota.
“As a result of when [Minnesota House Speaker] Melissa Hartman and Mark Hartman were murdered, we had a conversation about safety and security for our members,” she said.
State campaign finance records show few security expenses
A simple search of state campaign finance records reveals few major expenses that are described as security-related in the reports candidates file on a regular basis.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the 2026 frontrunner to be Republican candidate for governor, is an exception: His campaign has spent about $41,500 this year on security, much of which went to Ark Protection Group, according to his campaign finance reports.
The Wayne County-based company’s CEO and founder, Ron Gazboda, is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, according to the biography that appears on his company’s website. Since getting into private life, Gazboda describes himself as helping protect “political figures, artists, athletes, and high-net worth clients.”
Ramaswamy’s campaign declined to comment for this story.
Ramaswamy, a billionaire who used a failed 2024 run for president to gain national political prominence, is higher-profile than most Ohio political candidates, said Weaver, the Republican political consultant and lawyer. In addition to Ramaswamy’s political prominence, it’s also common for the wealthy to worry about their personal security, he said.
Campaign finance laws are meant to prevent candidates from raiding their campaign accounts for excessive personal expense, said Weaver, who referenced the Dann case.
But Weaver said it seems times have changed since then, given the current fraught political environment.
“It’s a reasonable concern for a high-profile elected official to wonder whether they are a target of either a psychopath or a politically motivated actor,” Weaver said.