As Alice DeWine, the daughter of Gov. Mike DeWine, battles for the Greene County prosecutor position, a federal super PAC named Protecting Ohio Action Fund (POAF) has supported her campaign by spending $321,821 on it, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Alice is in a tight race against Assistant Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes for the county’s prosecutor position. Both candidates are Republican as no Democrats ran for this position.
The super PAC has been backing Alice by spending money on polling and digital advertising for her campaign, The Dispatch reported.
Almost $320,000 of POAF’s contributions came from a super PAC named Protecting Ohio Inc., according to Federal Election Committee records.
The Dispatch reported Protecting Ohio Inc. is a tax-exempt non-profit that formed right after Alice left the Greene County prosecutor’s office to go work in Clark County as an assistant prosecutor.
Protecting Ohio Inc. qualifies as a dark money group so it does not have to unveil its donors.
Besides a super PAC throwing its efforts behind Alice, her father and Attorney General Dave Yost have also publicly supported her.
Her father held the position his daughter is running for in 1976. This position launched his political career as he went on to become an Ohio state Senator in 1980.
Even with all this money and support against him, Alice’s opponent still feels confident about the election.
“That amount of money being spent on a local, county race, it is really insane,” Hayes told The Dispatch. “But, I have near-universal law enforcement support and the people who support me are residents of Greene County — not politicians in Columbus or family members.
“From their perspective, she has to win this race. This is her political coming-out party and if she doesn’t win this race, her political career may be over before it’s started,” he added.
The winner of the Greene County prosecutor will be announced next week as Ohio’s primary is April 28.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected].
Photo “Alice DeWine” by Alice DeWine.
