Person
Eric Fingerhut
- Work
- Vice president of education and STEM learning at Battelle Memorial Institute, 2011 to 2013.
- Work
- President and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, since August 2019.
Sources: jta.org · en.wikipedia.org
- Public service
- Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, 2007 to 2011.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Education
- B.S., Northwestern University, 1981; J.D., Stanford Law School, 1984.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
- $1.2MRaised, as filed · December 31, 2004
- $4,815Cash on hand · December 31, 2004
- 35%Latest poll · ABC News, October 2004
- 2Positions in their words · 2 issues
- none on fileClaims checked
- 3Offices held · Former Ohio Senate, 25th district, 1999–2006
8 of 11 sections researched
Not yet researched: What they have said, checked, Financial interests, Endorsements given.
What has been checked
- Profile 10 entries
- On the ballot 0 entries
- Where they stand 2 entries
- What they have said, checked None found in the records checked PolitiFact did not launch until 2007 and no other named fact-checker rated a 2004-campaign claim by either candidate. Not found in the records checked. A local alt-weekly's independent dispute of one Fingerhut tuition claim is recorded in `record` instead, per the site's fact-checker-name rule. Checked: The research archive's 2004-cycle fact-check pass, which searched PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, the Washington Post Fact Checker and AP Fact Check
- Record in office 4 entries
- Money 1 entry
- Financial interests None found in the records checked No documented conflict of interest tied to the 2004 campaign or his contemporaneous Ohio Senate/prior U.S. House service was found in the records checked.
- Polling and approval 3 entries
- Elections 1 entry
- Endorsements given None found in the records checked The research archive records no endorsement given by Fingerhut in the 2004 cycle.
- Sources 2 entries
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Section | State |
|---|---|
| profile | researched |
| ballot | researched |
| positions | researched |
| claims | none found |
| record | researched |
| money | researched |
| interests | none found |
| polling | researched |
| elections | researched |
| endorsements | none found |
| sources | researched |
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The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Chamber | District | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Statewide | All of Ohio | U.S. Senator from Ohio |
On the ballot
None found in the records checked
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Status |
|---|
| None found in the records checked |
Where they stand
Economic revitalization
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Ran on eliminating the state's inventory and machinery tax on manufacturers, describing a decade-long Ohio manufacturing/economic decline.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Higher education funding
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Criticized Voinovich, including for his record as governor, over higher-education funding levels and Ohio's public-university tuition costs relative to neighboring states.
Source: clevescene.com
What they have said, checked
None found in the records checked
Record in office
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Person | Date | Kind | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fingerhut (D) | 1999 | office | Ohio Senate, 25th district |
| Fingerhut (D) | 1993-01 | office | U.S. Representative, Ohio's 19th district |
| Fingerhut (D) | 1991 | office | Ohio Senate, 25th district |
| Fingerhut (D) | 1993 | action | 1993 (action): In the U.S. House (1993-1995), had a strong attendance record, missing only 27 of 1,122 roll call votes (2.4%) during his single term. Spons |
| Fingerhut (D) | 1993 | vote | 1993 (vote): Vote-based scoring of his single U.S. House term placed him as a relatively centrist Democrat by the standards of his own caucus at the time |
| Fingerhut (D) | 2004 | statement | 2004 (statement): Claimed during the 2004 campaign that it is actually cheaper for students to go elsewhere and pay out-of-state tuition than to stay in Ohio; |
| Fingerhut (D) | 2004-08 | action | 2004-08 (action): Walked roughly 310 miles across Ohio from Cincinnati to Cleveland over the late summer of 2004, meeting voters directly as a low-budget alte |
-
action August 2004
Walked roughly 310 miles across Ohio from Cincinnati to Cleveland over the late summer of 2004, meeting voters directly as a low-budget alternative to paid media, finishing on the shores of Lake Erie around September 6, 2004; chosen instead of the fundraising push urged by Ohio Democratic Party chairman Denny White.
Sources: cleveland19.com · clevescene.com
-
statement 2004
Claimed during the 2004 campaign that it is actually cheaper for students to go elsewhere and pay out-of-state tuition than to stay in Ohio; Cleveland Scene, an alternative weekly, independently disputed the claim, while noting Ohio's underfunding of higher education was a real and serious problem in its own right. This is a journalistic fact-check from an alt-weekly, not one of the site's four named fact-checking organizations, so it is recorded here rather than as a checked claim.
Cleveland Scene:
false, per a comparison of Ohio State's in-state tuition (about $5,664/year) to out-of-state tuition at the University of Kentucky (about $11,944) and West Virginia University (about $12,060)
· the sourceSource: clevescene.com
-
vote 1993
Vote-based scoring of his single U.S. House term placed him as a relatively centrist Democrat by the standards of his own caucus at the time.
Voteview/DW-NOMINATE, vote-based ideological scoring:
more liberal than 53% of the 103rd House; more conservative than 79% of Democrats
· the sourceSource: voteview.com
-
action 1993
In the U.S. House (1993-1995), had a strong attendance record, missing only 27 of 1,122 roll call votes (2.4%) during his single term. Sponsored/cosponsored legislation including the Sunshine for Lobbyists Act of 1993 (H.R. 2834).
Source: govtrack.us
Recorded votes
Eric Fingerhut cast 733 Yea or Nay votes on the roll calls we hold, across 2 terms from 2003 to 2006, all in the Ohio General Assembly, from the Ohio Legislature. Each term opens to every roll call, with the question, the result, how Eric Fingerhut voted and how the majority of their party voted.
| Term | Chamber | Yea | Nay | Did not vote | With party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 126th General Assembly, 2005–2006 | Ohio Senate | 356 | 133 | not recorded | – |
| 125th General Assembly, 2003–2004 | Ohio Senate | 201 | 43 | not recorded | – |
"With party" counts only roll calls on which most Republicans and most Democrats voted opposite ways. The Ohio Legislature records who voted Yea and who voted Nay and no one else, so an absence cannot be told from an abstention and neither is counted; only floor votes are listed. For 2003 to 2006 the votes are read from the House and Senate Journals, which print no party, and a vote is left out wherever a surname in the Journal could be two members.
Source: House and Senate Journals
Money
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| From | To | Dollars | Share of total | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raised | Spent | 1,166,538 | 99.6% | |
| Raised | Cash on hand | 4,815 | 0.4% | |
| Raised | Not in the filed totals (derived) | 1 | 0.0% | Derived: raised exceeds spent plus cash on hand in this filing; the difference is not itemized in the totals filed. |
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Status |
|---|
| None found in the records checked |
Totals as filed
| Race | Filer | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Senator from Ohio | FEC | $1,171,354 | $1,166,538 | $4,815 | December 31, 2004 |
Sources: fec.gov · opensecrets.org
Outside spending
Financial interests
None found in the records checked
Polling and approval
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Field date | Candidate | Share | Poll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2004 | Eric Fingerhut | 31 | Columbus Dispatch |
| Sep 2004 | Eric Fingerhut | 34 | University of Cincinnati |
| Oct 2004 | Eric Fingerhut | 35 | ABC News |
-
ABC News · October 2004 · U.S. Senator from Ohio
Fingerhut 35 · Voinovich 60
Source: mysterypollster.com
-
University of Cincinnati · September 2004 · U.S. Senator from Ohio
Fingerhut 34 · Voinovich 64
Source: mysterypollster.com
-
Columbus Dispatch · August 2004 · U.S. Senator from Ohio
Fingerhut 31 · Voinovich 45
Source: mysterypollster.com
Elections
| Race | Party | Result | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Senator from Ohio (2004) | Democratic | Lost | 1,961,249 | 36.1% |
Offices held
Ohio Senate, 25th district · 1999 to 2006 · elected
Source: en.wikipedia.org
U.S. Representative, Ohio's 19th district · 1993-01 to 1995-01 · elected
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Ohio Senate, 25th district · 1991 to 1992 · elected
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Endorsements
None found in the records checked
Sources
Data from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0: Eric Fingerhut · 2004 United States Senate election in Ohio
Every URL on this page, once each.
- Eric Fingerhut · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- 2004 United States Senate election in Ohio · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- https://www.jta.org/2013/07/14/united-states/hillel-taps-eric-fingerhut-former-congressman-as-new-ceo-president
- https://www.jta.org/2019/05/16/united-states/eric-fingerhut-leaves-top-post-at-hillel-to-head-jewish-federations-of-north-america
- https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00385724/
- https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00003607&cycle=CAREER
- https://mysterypollster.com/2004/10/ohio/
- https://www.clevescene.com/news/fingerhuts-fable-1486474
- https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/eric_fingerhut/404083
- https://voteview.com/person/29391/eric-d-fingerhut
- https://www.cleveland19.com/story/2233687/candidate-for-us-senate-to-walk-310-miles-in-ohioans-shoes/
- https://www.clevescene.com/news/run-eric-run-1488318
Cite and data
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Eric Fingerhut", https://crackedbuckeye.com/people/eric-fingerhut/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
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