Power of a dollar

Cleveland-based freelancer Ky A. Hoga returns to examine the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party's finances ahead of a pivotal November election.

D.J. Byrnes and Ky A. Hoga

Jul 01, 2026

∙ Paid

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Some housekeeping before we begin today…

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Today’s dispatch includes another missive from Cleveland-based freelancer Ky A. Hoga about the spending habits of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

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The power of a dollar by Ky A. Hoga

According to the latest unaudited post-primary campaign finance report, the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party (CCDP) raised under $5,000 in two months.

The party of the county that hasn’t surpassed a 60% voter turnout in the last three comparable election years (2014 = 40%, 2018 = 55%, and 2022 = 47%) is heading into what is possibly the state’s most crucial election in a generation with just under $75,000 on hand.

It also has—at bare minimum—a $22,000/month operation fee with $16,700 monthly payroll, $2,500 monthly administration, and $2,800 monthly utilities.

Since January, we’ve discussed the significance of hyper-local races, especially as they pertain to voter turnout and back-room political power. So much so that even Cleveland.com attempted to share its two cents on voter turnout, which reads more like a puff piece than an analysis of why Cleveland’s voter turnout is in the toilet.

In April, we explored the CCDP’s contributions data, which appears to indicate that the party’s entire revenue stream is just a boondoggle for candidates seeking to secure an election without engaging the general electorate.

Now’s the time to examine the expenditure data, as publicly reported by the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party (CCDP) and made available through the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

CCDP’s Expenditure Totals, 2018 - 2026

Source: Cuyahoga County Democratic Party campaign finance reports, 2018-2026

Below is a more in-depth analysis of the Party’s expenditures since 2018, further categorized according to:

Recurring Expenses, such as administration and utilities,
External Expenses, such as donations, meetings, and events, including the Party’s annual fundraising dinner,
Personnel Expenses, which include payroll and consulting, the payroll of the Party Chair being an expenditure that begins in 2024, and
Communications Expenses, such as advertisements and printing but also payments to the Ohio Democratic Party, which likely serves as Cuyahoga’s mail operation or other coordinated campaign efforts.

Recurring Expenses, 2018 - 2026

What is a little confusing is why the party seemingly didn’t have to pay rent from 2020 to 2024 but paid over $20,000 in 2025 and now over $17,000 in 2026 so far?

External Expenses, 2018 - 2026

Nothing too surprising with the External Expenses, though, considering its Annual Dinners cost over $80,000 on average and it needs at least $132,000 to cover basic operating expenses, that dinner better raise over $500,000.

Personnel Expenses, 2018 - 2026

This is perhaps one of the more fascinating expenditure categories.

The party has always incurred some level of Personnel Expenses, including before the CCDP Central Committee voted in 2024 to make the Chair position paid and with benefits.

But when one takes a look at Personnel Expenses from 2018 to 2025, one can see a rather large increase in both consulting and payroll expenditures starting in 2023.

In 2023, the Party spent almost $190,000 on consulting and payroll.

In 2024, the party spent almost $250,000 on consulting and payroll.

In 2025, a municipal election year, the party spent $210,000 on consulting and payroll. And as of halfway through 2026, the party has spent about $190,000 on consulting and payroll.

Communications Expenses, 2018 - 2026

The Communications Expense category and its sub-categories are more challenging expenditure types to understand, as the majority of the voter contact expenses, including mail and direct outreach, are included in the pass-through payments CCDP makes to the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP).

There certainly isn’t anything wrong with this financial relationship, especially considering that the ODP has access to a discounted bulk postage rate that lowers the cost of mail.

But it does make it difficult to analyze the effectiveness of CCDP’s expenditures towards increasing voter turnout in Cleveland and Cuyahoga overall.

But these last two expenditure categories (Personnel and Communications) generally account for the majority of the party’s annual expenses, with 51% of the party’s expenditures in 2025 (the first full year of a paid Chair) going towards the salaries and benefits of its two-person staff.