Political committees focused on governors’ races for both Republicans and Democrats have received more than $6 million from Ohio-based health insurers, utilities, pharmaceutical manufacturers and more.
Elevance Health – formerly known as Anthem, which runs Blue Cross Blue Shield in Ohio – emerged as Ohio’s biggest donor to both the Republican Governors Association and Democratic Governors Association, which both spend tens of millions on campaign ads supporting their respective gubernatorial candidates.
Elevance Health has given $2.6 million to both groups in 2025 and 2026, split evenly down the middle, according to campaign finance reports filed last week.
The next biggest Ohio contributor to the groups, CareSource, has given a total of $670,000 in – $500,000 to the RGA and $170,000 to the DGA, finance reports show. .
The two insurers are among the six companies that have a share of Ohio’s $20 billion in managed care organization contracts. A third insurer, Aetna, which manages a specialized managed care contract for young Ohioans with complex behavioral and mental health care needs, gave $250,000 to the RGA and nothing to DGA.
As 527 organizations, organizations like the RGA and DGA can accept unlimited money from individual or corporate donors and unions to spend on politics. The recent filings shed light on the ways that companies that are either heavily regulated by the state or seek its contracts can fund the TV commercials that saturate commercial breaks and billboards until Election Day.
Both the RGA and DGA fundraise and participate in gubernatorial races on a national basis, meaning the Ohio donors are not necessarily earmarking specific dollars to specific campaigns.
Their money is lumped into the larger pool. Signal Statewide analyzed quarterly reports to the Internal Revenue Service from 2025 and 2026 both, searching specifically for donors with Ohio addresses.
Electric utilities spend big
Ohio’s three biggest electric utility companies, all regulated by the gubernatorial appointees on the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, wrote checks ranging from the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to both.
American Electric Power – an investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Columbus that operates in 11 states – gave $575,000. The RGA received $375,000 while the DGA got $200,000.
Cincinnati area’s Duke Energy contributed $230,000 to the DGA; Akron-based FirstEnergy contributed $75,000 to the DGA. FirstEnergy’s CEO Brian Tierney personally wrote a $10,000 check to the DGA as well. Like American Electric Power, both companies also operate in multiple states in the region.
The FirstEnergy contributions come as Democrat Sherrod Brown’s U.S. Senate campaign has framed his Republican opponent as a conduit of a FirstEnergy-led lobbying and pay-for-play scheme, now considered the largest public corruption scandal in state history. The related investigation sent a House Speaker to prison for 20 years and produced a laundry list of other convictions, plea deals, civil settlements and mistrials over the past six years.
Acton’s campaign referred comment to the DGA, which declined comment. FirstEnergy didn’t return an inquiry.
Other money for the RGA
In addition to the insurers and utility companies previously identified, the RGA’s biggest Ohio-based donors also include:
- Cenovus, which owns oil refineries in Lima and Toledo: $200,000
- Geraldine Warner, a Republican megadonor: $150,000
- Western and Southern Life Insurance, of Cincinnati: $150,000
- Champ Titles, a government technology company from Cleveland: $170,000 plus another $21,000 as an in-kind donation
That money ultimately flows through the RGA to other committees that are active in Ohio’s gubernatorial race and back Ramaswamy.
For example, The RGA Right Direction PAC, an offshoot of the RGA, released ads playing up Acton’s unwillingness to debate and a 2019 domestic incident at her Bexley home. Those ads are popping up in Dayton, Cincinnati and other markets.
“Drinking. Drugs. Incompetence. Amy Acton,” the ads state.
DGA’s other big donors
- Pfizer, $297,500
- Mylan Pharmaceuticals: $50,000
- Columbia Gas: $50,000
John Pepper, the father of David Pepper, Acton’s running mate, wrote the DGA a $50,000 check earlier this year as well.
The DGA this cycle is supporting an independent expenditure group it calls Ohioans for Lower Costs. The entity has taken out ads around the state praising Acton and depicting Ramswamy as a dodgy businessman.
“Conman, Huckster, Swindler. They all describe Vivek Ramaswamy,” the ads state. “In nearly every job he’s ever had, he’s ripped people off to make a buck.”
Companies play both sides of political aisle
Some of the biggest donors this cycle, such as Elevance (Anthem), American Electric Power and CareSource, wrote six-figure checks to both entities.
Many smaller donors followed suit. Marathon Petroleum wrote $100,000 checks to each.
Scotts Miracle Gro, a multinational lawn supply company based in central Ohio, gave the DGA $100,000. While the company hasn’t contributed to the RGA, separate records with the Federal Election Commission show the company gave $250,000 to a super PAC backing Ramaswamy.
Grocery chain Kroger gave both the RGA and DGA $80,000 and $75,000, respectively. Drug wholesaler Cardinal Health gave each about $50,000, as did paint manufacturer Sherwin Willliams.