WASHINGTON - Ohio’s representatives in Washington vary widely in personal wealth, but one thing is clear: most of them are far richer than the constituents they represent.
At the top of the list is U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Westlake Republican and former auto dealership magnate, who reported assets between $24.8 million and $151 million in his recently filed 2024 financial disclosure forms.
At the other end is U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, a Democrat from Warrensville Heights, whose net worth ranges from negative $46,000 to just $10,000 – one of three Ohio lawmakers who reported more debt than assets.
By comparison, the median net worth of a typical Ohioan is $135,600, according to 2023 U.S. Census data. Ohioans’ average net worth – skewed upward by the wealthiest individuals – comes in at $438,400.
Most members of Ohio’s congressional delegation sit well above both figures. Many reported multi-million-dollar holdings, many of them in real estate, retirement accounts, mutual funds, or family businesses.
Second in wealth behind Moreno is U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, a Salem Republican and grocery store heir, who disclosed assets worth between $10.1 million and $37 million.
Other high-net-worth lawmakers include U.S. Rep. David Taylor of Clermont County (up to $29.2 million), U.S. Rep. Max Miller of Bay Village (up to $14.7 million), U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson of Miami County (up to $9.9 million), U.S. Rep. Bob Latta of Bowling Green (up to $9.7 million), and U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce of South Russell (up to $4.8 million). Some, like Moreno, Taylor, and Davidson, continue to earn sizable income from real estate or business ventures.
But not every member of Ohio’s delegation is flush.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner of Dayton, Rep. Emilia Sykes of Akron, and Rep. Troy Balderson of Zanesville all reported net worths that could fall into negative territory, due largely to mortgage, credit card, or student loan debt. Even so, their yearly salaries of $174,000 is far higher than the $42,447 median income for working Ohioans over age 25.
Members of Congress are required to file annual financial disclosure reports to provide transparency into their financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest. These reports do not list precise values. Instead, lawmakers report broad dollar ranges for their assets, debts, and income sources, which can make it difficult to pinpoint exact net worth. The forms usually exclude the value of a member’s primary residence, though they must include mortgages, which can make some lawmakers appear poorer – or more indebted – than they actually are.
Despite those limitations, the reports remain the public’s best available tool for gauging the financial position of their elected officials.
A disclosure form Moreno filed this month shows he stepped back from some of his business interests in 2024, but continued to list himself as a manager of more than a dozen companies. It indicated he had no earned income or non-investment income that year.
The largest financial change on his report was divestiture from his M Motors Group automotive business. A disclosure form he filed as a Senate candidate valued his M Motors holdings between $5 million and $25 million. That fell to under $1,000 in the new report. Both reports show income of between $100,000 and $1 million in dividends from M Motors in the years they covered.
Over that year, Moreno also divested himself of investments of between $100,000 and $250,000 in Husto Inc., a travel services company, and of between $250,000 and $500,000 in the Ancora Impact Fund, which is run by an activist investing firm in Cleveland’s suburbs.
The new report shows that Moreno stepped down from multiple director and manager positions across his business entities, while retaining managerial roles in others. Many of his current holdings are in real estate, and he owns multiple residential properties across Ohio, Florida, New York, California, and Washington D.C.
The businesses where he continues to list himself as a manager include a pair of Sunbury, Ohio, LLCs called M 20 Realty LLC and M 20 Motors LLC. A Mercedes Benz dealership under construction on land Moreno owns in Sunbury is supposed to be run by Moreno’s son, Kevin, but the report shows Moreno himself holds a $1 million and $5 million mortgage from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, which was taken out in 2023.
Husted, who served as Ohio’s Lieutenant governor until Gov. Mike DeWine tapped him to replace Vice President JD Vance in the U.S. Senate, filed his first disclosure report in May. It shows no current liabilities, with a home equity line of credit paid off in March 2024.
The report shows he earned a $221,125 salary as lieutenant governor, and $27,575 in compensation for serving as a director of Heartland Bank, a position he left in January.
It also shows him stepping down in January as a director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, Innovate Ohio and as chair of the Cincinnati Innovation District Advisory Committee.
Much of Husted’s wealth is in retirement accounts invested in mutual funds. The largest of them is an Ohio 457 deferred compensation account for government employees that contains between $431,000 and $965,000.
He and his wife have between $100,001 - $250,000 in deposits at Heartland Bank.
District 1: U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, Cincinnati Republican
Net worth: $830,000 - $2.4 million
The largest assets listed in Landsman’s report were his wife’s holdings associated with the Kroger grocery store chain. Until recently, she worked for a Kroger subsidiary.
Landsman’s report says she owned $250,000 to $500,000 of Kroger stock in 2024 and had $100,000 to $250,000 in a Kroger 401(k) retirement account. The report says she forfeited between $100,000 and $250,000 in Kroger restricted stock when she left the company earlier this year.
The day Landsman filed his 2024 financial disclosure report, he announced he had sold all his individual stocks and and reinvested in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETF) to comply with legislation he’s cosponsored that would ban Congress members from owning individual stocks, as a way to prevent insider trading.
District 2: U.S. Rep. David Taylor, Clermont County Republican
Net Worth: $6.9 million - $29.2 million.
Taylor’s largest asset is Sardinia Ready Mix Inc., his family-owned concrete business, which his report valued at between $5 million and $25 million.
It said his income from the business in the previous year was between $1 million and $5 million, and was between $100,000 and $1 million in the current year.
Beatty’s main assets are accounts at Fifth Third bank with deposits valued between $1,250,000 and $5.5 million, her report says. On top of her congressional salary, she collects a $253,323 pension for herself and a $20,000 pension for her deceased husband, Otto, from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS).
Joyce and Otto Beatty both served in Ohio’s state legislature. Between serving in the state legislature and her election to Congress, Beatty was Ohio State University’s senior vice president of outreach and engagement.
District 4: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, Champaign County Republican
Net worth: $165,003 - $400,000
Most of Jordan’s money is in an Ohio Public Employees Retirement System Defined Benefit Plan, with a value listed between $100,00 and $250,000.
He’s also got between $65,000 and $150,000 in Park National Bank savings and checking accounts with his wife.
His report says he got between $201 and $1,000 in royalties from his 2021 book titled “Do What You Said You Would Do,” and between $1 and $200 in royalties from his 1994 book title “Victory: A Guide to Sports Nutrition at the Training Table.”
District 5: U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, Bowling Green Republican
Net worth: $4.4 million - $9.7 million
Latta’s report indicates that he and his wife have dozens of bank accounts - many with the same banks - that generate between $71,000 and $166,000 in interest.
For example, they’ve got between $200,000 and $550,000 divided between 11 separate accounts at Farmers & Merchants State Bank, between $215,000 and $450,000 divided between 5 different accounts at Huntington National Bank, and between $215,000 and $450,000 divided between 6 accounts at Genoa Bank.
One of his wife’s employers is Farmers & Merchants State Bank, where her compensation includes stock, the report says.
The couple also have significant investments in dividend paying mutual funds, and blue chip index funds. They have between $500,000 and $1 million each in Fidelity Low Priced Stock Fund and Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral, which are their largest single holdings.
Rulli, a former state legislator whose family runs a chain of grocery stores, lists commercial real estate in Austintown and Boardman worth between $7 million and $35 million as his main assets.
His disclosure report shows he earned an $82,400 salary from the grocery store business last year and $36,045 as a state legislator before he was elected to Congress.
He’s also got 401 (k) plans worth between $1.5 million and $6 million, and life insurance policies with his spouse worth between $1 million and $2 million.
District 7: U.S. Rep. Max Miller, Bay Village Republican
Net worth: $3.3 million - $14.7 million
Miller - a scion of the family behind Forest City Enterprises, was granted a divorce in June from his wife, Emily Moreno Miller, the daughter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno. The financial disclosure report Miller filed this month doesn’t include assets of hers that were listed in past reports, so the net value of his household went down.
Miller’s largest single investment is between $1,250,000 and $5.5 million in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The 2024 report also reflected ownership of a house in Rocky River that Miller sold this year for $1.4 million, and a mortgage on that house between $500,000 and $1 million.
It says he’s on the Board of Trustees of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council but doesn’t reflect any income from that position.
District 8: U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, Miami County Republican
Net worth: $800,000 to $9.9 million
Davidson’s net worth appears to be in the millions. Much of his wealth consists of two commercial real estate holdings valued between $2 million to $10 million. Mortgages on his properties are valued between $750,000 and $1.5 million. Each of those real estate holdings generated between $100,000 and $1 million in income, his report says.
Davidson has mutual funds and stocks in IRAs valued between $200,000 and $400,000 as well as bank accounts with assets between $50,000 and $150,000.
Kaptur holds between $300,000 and $750,000 in certificates of deposit across three different banks, representing a significant portion of her overall asset portfolio. She also has $50,000 to $100,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds, her report indicates.
She owns multiple properties in the Toledo area, selling one of them for between $100,000 and $250,000 during the year. Her debts include a mortgage of between $50,000 and $100,000 on a condominium in Washington, D.C., that she uses when Congress is in session, and a $15,000 to $50,000 home equity loan.
Turner has between $15,000 and $50,000 in an Ohio PERS account, and an IRA with multiple positions, whose total value ranges between $62,000 and $510,000, his report says. He also has a money market account that contains between $15,001 and $50,000, that generates between $2.500 and $5,000 in income.
Liabilities on his report are a $250,000 to $500,000 mortgage on his DC residence and a personal loan of between $15,000 and $50,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union.
District 11: U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, Warrensville Heights Democrat
Net worth: -$46,000 to $10,000
Brown’s financial disclosure report shows she’s got mutual funds in a retirement account valued between $4,000 and $60,000. She’s also got a mortgage on her personal residence of between $50,000 and $100,000. Congress members aren’t required to put the value of their personal residence on the form, but they are required to list the mortgages, so the report doesn’t reflect equity she’s got in her house.
District 12: U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson, Zanesville Republican
Net worth: -$285,000 to $300,000
Balderson gets between $5,000 and $15,000 in yearly rent from a property he owns in Falls Township, his report says. It lists the value of the rental property at between $100,000 and $250,000 and says he has a mortgage on it of $250,000 to $500,000.
Balderson also has between $15,000 and $50,000 in an account at Huntington Bank, and mutual fund holdings valued between $100,000 and $250,000.
Sykes has an Ohio Public Employee Retirement account worth $50,000 to $100,000, and her spouse has one worth $250,000 to $500,000, her report says.
She owes between $110,000 and $265,000 in student loans, and her spouse has mortgage debt of between $250,000 and $500,000, as well as credit card debt of between $35,001 and $80,000.
District 14: U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, South Russell Republican
Net worth: $2 million to $4.8 million
Joyce’s report shows he’s got a diversified investment portfolio spread across multiple trusts and retirement accounts, with total assets ranging from $2.35-$5.55 million. As liabilities, he’s got a pair of mortgages valued between $350,000 and $750,000. His dividend paying investments added between $37,000 and $92,500 to his bottom line last year.
15th District - U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, Columbus Republican
Net worth: $551,000 - $1.5 million
Carey’s report indicated he’s got between $100,000 and $250,000 in a cash account awaiting reinvestment, and his wife has multiple investment accounts.
It says his spouse has an interior decoration business called City Park Interiors valued $100,000 and $250,000 from which she earned an income between $100,000 and $1 million. The pair collected between $14,906 and $42,000 in investment income, as well as a $29,508 retirement plan distribution.
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