Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel is returning campaign donations under investigation by federal authorities.
Mandel’s spokesman told the Cleveland Jewish News that Mandel returned $105,000 from 21 donors from Suarez Corp. Industries, a marketing firm in Canton, Ohio.
Benjamin Suarez, the firm’s owner, may have reimbursed his employees for contributing to the campaigns of Mandel and Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), according to reports in the New Republic and the Toledo Blade.
Mandel, the state treasurer of Ohio and a Jewish Iraq war veteran, is in a battle to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. — jta