ASHLAND — State Rep. candidate Melanie Miller received over $116,000 in donations from 136 donors since she announced her campaign in January, campaign finance records show. 

Local philanthropist Rob Archer and Grandpa’s Cheesebarn owners Richard and Ronda Poorbaugh donated the most at $13,000 each. Also donating a significant amount was William Chandler of Chandler Systems, Inc. who donated $12,500.  

Out of all the donations, only one came from a business: Enterprise 250, LLC., a local property management firm, donated $8,460.

While two-thirds of Miller’s donors were small donors — individuals who donated $200 or less — their donations added up to less than a tenth of the campaign’s total donations.

The lion’s share of donation money came from large donors who donated anywhere between $250 and $13,000.

A number of local officials also donated to Miller’s campaign:

• Ashland University President Carlos Campo donated $1,000.
• City Council Member Dennis Miller donated $500.
• Ashland City Schools Board of Education member Pam Mowry donated $500.
• Ashland County Sheriff E. Wayne Risner donated $250.
• City Council President Steve Workman donated $200.
• Ashland County Clerk of Courts Deborah Myers donated $130.
• Ashland Municipal Court Clerk of Courts Annette Shaw donated $100.
• Richland County Administrator Andrew Keller donated $50.

So far, Miller’s campaign has only spent around $23,000. Her largest expense was over $4,500 for yard signs, followed by over $3,900 for postcards. 

Miller will continue campaigning after winning the Republican nomination to represent the newly-drawn Ohio House District 67, earning 62.3% of the vote in Tuesday’s primary election. She will face Democrat Drew Burge in the November election. 

Data for this story came from publicly-available campaign finance forms on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website. Available data on Miller’s donations runs from Jan. 24, 2022 to July 7, 2022, and available data on Miller’s expenditures runs from Feb. 10, 2022 to July 13, 2022.