Who's responsible for this ad?

Ohioans for Judicial Integrity is responsible for the ad. Ohioans for Judicial Integrity (OJI) is a Democrat-aligned super PAC that was registered with the FEC on August 9, 2024 by Jeffrey Ruppert. A group going by “Ohioans for Judicial Integrity Action Fund” was first registered in Ohio on August 16, 2019, but terminated in December 2020 and is listed as inactive. On October 18, 2024 the group filed a statement of organization in Ohio, the same day it filed its October quarterly report, noting that it spent over $2 million in ads between August 30 and September 30. 

The super PAC has raised $2,025,000 so far this cycle since it launched:

• Michael Bloomberg contributed $1 million to Ohioans for Judicial Integrity on September 20, 2024. Bloomberg is the majority owner and founder of Bloomberg L.P., and former mayor of New York City. Bloomberg was also a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president of the United States. A billionaire and one of the richest men in the world, Bloomberg is a major Democratic donor, according to OpenSecrets Bloomberg has contributed over $40 million to federal outside spending groups in the 2024 cycle, mostly backing Democrats. Other mega donors such as Tim Mellon, Richard Uihlein, and Miriam Adelson have contributed over $100 million each to federal outside spenders.
• The Ohio Progressive Collaborative (OPC) contributed $400,000 to OJI on August 29, 2024. OPC is a 501(c)4 that describes its mission as “to convene a high capacity group of donors that strategically leverage resources to achieve political and policy goals advancing the progressive movement in Ohio by strengthening infrastructure.” The Ohio Progressive Collaborative is affiliated with the 501(c)3 Ohio Progressive Collaborative Education Fund. In 2023, the Ohio Progressive Collaborative raised over $3 million and its affiliated 501(c)3 raised $6 million. 
• Educators for Ohio contributed $325,000 to Ohioans for Judicial Integrity on August 22, 2024. Educators for Ohio is a Super PAC backed by the Ohio Education Association.
• The National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF) contributed $300,000 to OJI on August 22, 2024.
  • NRAF is the 501(c)4 affiliated of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), an active spender in state supreme court elections. According to NRAF’s website, “The mission of the National Redistricting Action Fund is to harness the power of people and the courts to dismantle unfair electoral maps and create a redistricting system based on democratic values. By helping to create more just and representative electoral districts across the country, we also hope to restore the public’s faith in a true representative democracy.”

Discussion and Analysis

Context provided by Catherine Turcer, Executive Director, Common Cause Ohio

The narrator is Deidra Reese of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a progressive organization with a “mission to organize everyday Ohioans, building transformative power organizations for racial, social, and economic justice.” The Ohio Organizing Collaborative has been leading the Voter Bill of Rights citizen initiative effort. On Nov. 8, Attorney General Dave Yost approved the ballot summary after the Ohio Supreme Court (State ex rel. Dudley v. Yost) found that he couldn’t reject a summary because he didn’t like the title.  

Voting rights aren’t generally the focus of political advertisement in judicial races. However, myths surrounding the 2020 presidential election led to Ohio legislators passing one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country. These restrictions have led to thousands being blocked from voting.  

On July 22, a federal court struck down a provision in the new law that only allowed some close family members to put absentee ballots in the drop boxes at the Boards of Election. The prohibition was particularly challenging for voters with disabilities because their caretakers, neighbors, and grandchildren were not permitted to drop off ballots. During the second week of early voting, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s late August directive on ballot drop boxes which required those delivering ballots to give the ballots directly to election workers and to sign a form. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that voters with disabilities cannot have their designees deliver their ballots to drop boxes stationed outside the county boards of elections, they must instead fill out a form at a county board of elections during business hours.