ohio sen. rob portman raised $4.5 million from july through september, his campaign announced, a strong haul that positions him well for the last stretch of his competitive senate race. mr. portman raised $3.5 million of the haul for his own campaign and an additional $1 million for a joint fundraising committee with the ohio republican party, which is working to secure a win both for him and gop presidential nominee donald trump . mr. portman will report holding $7.6 million in the bank as of<u+00a0>sept. 30, a war chest that will allow him to support an advertising blitz in the last weeks of the campaign. former ohio gov. ted strickland, mr. portman<u+2019>s democratic rival, hasn<u+2019>t yet reported his third-quarter fundraising totals. from april through june, mr. portman<u+2019>s fundraising outpaced mr. strickland<u+2019>s, with the republican bringing in $2.9 million to mr. strickland<u+2019>s $1.9 million. mr. portman, who was first elected to the senate in 2010, has long been considered one of this year<u+2019>s most vulnerable republican incumbents. the gop is defending nine senate seats in states president barack obama has won, and democrats must win just five back to regain a majority in that chamber. but over the summer, the race has moved decisively in mr. portman<u+2019>s favor. his campaign has run an extensive ground operation that analysts from both parties praise as particularly thorough. volunteers for the campaign have spoken to more than four million individual voters, according to a campaign spokeswoman. mr. strickland, once thought to be a top recruit for the democrats, hasn<u+2019>t been able to pull even with mr. portman in polls of the race. mr. portman currently leads mr. strickland by 13 points , according to the real clear politics average. sensing the race slipping from their grasp, democratic groups, including the democratic senatorial campaign committee and an allied super pac, senate majority pac, have pulled at least $7 million in advertising as of late last week. equivalent gop outside groups have also pulled money from the state, to redirect funds toward other competitive races, including north carolina and missouri.
fundraising haul puts ohio sen. rob portman in strong position to protect lead    - wsj
michelle hackman