COLUMBUS, Ohio — State Rep. Ismail Mohamed, a Democrat who represents Columbus’ Northeast Side in the Ohio House, has been fined $1,200 after the Ohio Secretary of State’s office found that his campaign filed multiple finance reports late and made errors in the funds it reported, according to documents released to The Columbus Dispatch.
The findings come from an investigative report dated Sept. 14. Investigators considered six allegations against Mohamed’s campaign and found four violations, concluding that the committee did not file its 2025 annual report or its 2026 pre-primary report on time, and that the reports it did file were not complete and accurate.
A central problem, the report found, was bookkeeping around a loan. An existing loan was incorrectly listed as a new loan, which threw off the balances carried into later reports. Investigators wrote that the discrepancies meant the committee failed to disclose at least 90 percent of the total contributions received or expenditures made during the reporting periods in question.
Investigators also looked into an allegation that Mohamed had used campaign money for personal purposes. On that point, the report found no indication that personal use had occurred, clearing the campaign on the most serious of the claims examined.
This is Mohamed’s second campaign finance violation, according to the Dispatch’s review of the documents; the first appears to stem from a late filing in 2024. Mohamed did not respond to a request for comment on the new findings, and it was not clear whether he has filed an appeal. The Secretary of State’s office also did not respond to a request for clarification.
The finance case is separate from an election challenge Mohamed faced this fall. His Republican opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Bernadine Kennedy Kent, challenged his residency, arguing he lives in a Delaware County home he bought in October 2025 rather than in his District 3 townhouse. The Franklin County Board of Elections voted 3-1 on Sept. 28 to deny that challenge, leaving Mohamed on the ballot.
Mohamed, the first Somali man elected to the Ohio Legislature, has served in the House since January 2023. The fine and the report’s findings now become part of the public record voters in his Columbus district can weigh as the Nov. 3 election approaches, alongside the residency fight his campaign has already weathered this cycle.
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