There are some notable names among the donors to Cincinnati congressional candidates, according to filings with the Federal Elections Commission.
The deadline for preprimary campaign finance reports was April 23. Not all filings for local congressional candidates were on the FEC’s website as of Thursday night.
Here’s what The Enquirer found in the most recent reports.
Billionaires donated to Rep. Warren Davidson
Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman and his wife, Christine Schwarzman, were Rep. Warren Davidson’s largest donors, each donating $14,000, filings show. Schwarzman is the CEO of Blackstone, a private equity firm. He’s worth $38.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Another billionaire, Elon Musk, donated $6,600 to Davidson in March 2025.
Musk, who’s had a turbulent relationship with President Donald Trump since the start of his second presidential term, was against Trump’s spending bill. Davidson also at one point voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill because it didn’t do enough to cut the national deficit, but flipped his vote to a yes in July.
Also in July, Musk said he would support primary challengers who went up against Congress members who supported the bill. That was months after he’d already donated to Davidson’s primary campaign.
Landsman’s donors include ActBlue, AIPAC
The political action committees that donated most to incumbent Cincinnati Democrat Rep. Greg Landsman were ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising nonprofit organization, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Phil de Toledo, former president of The Capital Group Companies, an investment management company, and current board chair of Birthright Israel Foundation Board, which provides trips to Israel for Jewish young adults, gave Landsman $7,000.
So did Barbara Karplus, founder of the Woka Foundation, an environmental group.
Conroy receives donations from father, former Bush finance chair
Among the largest individual donors to Eric Conroy, the frontrunner in the Republican primary, were his father, Gary Conroy, and Mercer Reynolds, former finance chair to President George W. Bush.
Eric Conroy loaned his campaign $287,500, the reports showed.
Gary Conroy used an address in Monfort Heights on Cincinnati’s West Side to make the donations. Reynolds also lives locally, in Hyde Park, according to the filing.
Damon Lynch IV donated to Republican primary candidate
Democratic candidate Damon Lynch IV donated $250 to Republican candidate Rosemary Oglesby-Henry in October 2025, months before he decided to run for the 1st District seat himself.
Oglesby-Henry is a Westwood resident who founded a nonprofit organization for teenage parents called Rosemary’s Babies. Lynch said he’s been friends with Oglesby-Henry for five or six years and wanted to support her run for Congress. He said he wanted her to run as a Democrat but she decided to run in the Republican primary.
Rep. Dave Taylor’s top donations came from wealthy Cincinnatians
Bob Castellini, owner of the Cincinnati Reds, and members of the Lindner family ‒ of United Dairy Farmers fame ‒ were among Rep. Dave Taylor’s top donors.
Carl H. Lindner III, Frances Lindner and S. Craig Lindner each donated $3,500, for a total of $10,500.
Castellini contributed $5,500.
Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@enquirer.com, @ee_glynn on X and @eringlynn on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Elon Musk among donors to Cincinnati congressmen
Reporting by Erin Glynn and Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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