The Ohio Secretary of State’s office has ruled that a state representative from Columbus failed to file multiple campaign finance reports on time and that he made errors in some reported funds.
Documents released to The Dispatch show that Rep. Ismail Mohamed, a Democrat from Columbus' Northeast Side, was fined $1,200 for filing late and incomplete campaign finance reports.
Investigators also investigated allegations that Mohamed had used campaign money for personal use, but did not find any indication of that happening, according to the report, dated Sept. 14.
An existing loan was incorrectly listed as a new loan, so balances on the subsequent campaign finance reports were incorrect, the report stated.
“These balance discrepancy errors show the
committee failed to disclose at least 90% of the total contributions received or of the total expenditures made during the respective reporting periods,” according to the report released to The Dispatch in response to a public records request.
Mohamed did not respond to a request for comment.
Investigators found four violations from the six allegations under consideration. They found that Mohamed’s campaign didn’t file the 2025 annual and 2026 pre-primary reports on time – and that they were both not complete and accurate.
This was Mohamed’s second campaign finance violation. The first one appears to be from a late campaign finance filing in 2024.
It is unclear if Mohamed filed an appeal.
The Ohio Secretary of State’s office also did not respond to a request for clarification.
The campaign finance issues were distinct from the residency challenge also brought by his Republican opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Bernadine Kennedy Kent. The Franklin County Board of Elections voted 3-1 on Sept. 28 to deny Kennedy Kent’s challenge to Mohamed's residency.
Kent alleged that Mohamed didn’t actually live in the townhouse within District 3, but rather in a home he purchased in Delaware County in October 2025.
Mohamed is the first Somali man elected to serve in the Ohio Legislature, where he has served since January 2023.
Anna Lynn Winfrey is a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Rep. Ismail Mohamed fined for campaign finance errors
