Who's responsible for this ad?

This is an ad by the Republican State Leadership Committee’s “Judicial Fairness Initiative” (RSLC-JFI). The ad lays out RSLC’s plan to impact judicial races, redistricting, and the balance of power in the states. The ad begins with an attack on “radical liberals” and preys on fears of violence. By positioning themselves as protectors of the court, they are masking their long campaign to create more conservative and business-friendly courts. RSLC-JFI’s ads routinely use this kind of misleading rhetoric to paint Democratic judges as soft on crime; the group has faced complaints for its ads in the past.

Discussion and Analysis

Analysis by True North Research

In 2014, RSLC created its Judicial Fairness Initiative (JFI) to support the election of conservative judges to state courts. Since then, Ohio has routinely been one of RSLC-JFI’s target states. The group claims it has spent $29 million in state supreme court races across the country, and reporting shows upwards of $3 million of that has been in Ohio, including a $2 million ad buy in the 2022 Ohio Supreme Court races. 

This year, three seats are on the ballot for Ohio Supreme Court which could determine the balance of the Court. The Republicans currently hold a 4-3 majority. To assert their influence, on August 30, 2024, RSLC-JFI announced plans to “make [a] seven-figure investment to elect conservative judges in AZ, MI, MT, NC, OH, TX.”

A recent decision by the state’s highest court affirming the deceptive language of the Ohio Ballot Board has highlighted how ideologically driven the Ohio Supreme Court has become, in part, due to the power and reach of groups like RSLC-JFI. 

While the group claims that “radical liberals” are “weaponizing the rule of law” and “redrawing maps,” RSLC itself is notorious for its 2010 Redistricting Majority Project (Project REDMAP) that targeted state legislatures to secure GOP control, leading to grossly gerrymandered voting maps that destroyed fair representation in Ohio.

RSLC’s president Dee Duncan acknowledged the connection between RSLC’s redistricting agenda and its motives for backing judicial candidates in the states they targeted, stating, “We know that redistricting is no longer a ten-year battle; it is a yearly fight. That is why we must elect more constitutional conservatives in races across the country this year to prevent liberals backed by millions in dark money from overturning conservative-led benches.” RSLC-JFI previously bragged about its “significant impact on the redistricting process” after helping elect judges in Ohio in 2022, –where it spent $2 million.

Redistricting reform is on this November’s ballot and the Ohio Supreme Court is the court of record for challenges to voting districts. While the Ohio Supreme Court– led by Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor– declared state legislative maps unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders seven times, when new justices were seated after her retirement in 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a motion to consider objections to the eighth set of state legislative maps adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission.

As 527 PACs, the Republican State Leadership Committee and RSLC-JFI can accept unlimited contributions from corporations, dark money groups, and billionaires, but they must disclose their donors in federal filings. RSLC-JFI itself is fully funded via RSLC, so it is impossible to know for certain who is underwriting RSLC’s judicial ads, but there are indications as to some of the funders. 

RSLC’s largest donor in recent years is the Concord Fund (also known as JCN or Judicial Crisis Network), a 501(c)4 tied to the right-wing judicial activist who helms a $1.6 billion trust, Leonard Leo. An investigation in 2022 found that nonprofits connected to Leo spent over $31 million targeting judicial seats in 42 states between 2010 and 2022.

RSLC frequently transfers large sums to RSLC-JFI shortly after receiving similarly sized contributions from the Concord Fund. RSLC-JFI then typically reserves ad time and creates ads about a month before the general election. In some cases the group has launched an ad campaign just days before voters head to the polls scorching opponents of RSLC-JFI’s who cannot themselves raise enough money—and have little time—to counter such last-minute attacks designed to aid the group’s preferred candidates. Such big spending in a short period often exceeds what the judicial candidates themselves raise during their entire election campaigns.

Other notable RSLC funders include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Charles Koch’s Koch Industries. Of RSLC’s many corporate donors, a handful are based in Ohio. Marathon Petroleum appears to have given more to RSLC than any other Ohioan entity, having given RSLC more than $1 million since 2022, and more than $2.2 million since 2016. Elevance Health, formerly Anthem Inc., has given RSLC more than $600,000 since 2022. American Electric Power Service Corp., which continues to benefit from the corrupt nuclear bailout legislation, HB 6, has given RSLC $215,000 since 2019. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, which was originally created by and maintains a partnership with the Ohio Farm Bureau, a group that has spent some of its own funds backing right-wing judicial candidates, has given RSLC at least $335,000 since 2016. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce also gave RSLC a one-time donation of $200,000 in 2016. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Farm Bureau, and other entities have endorsed all three Republican candidates this cycle.