“Federal campaign finance laws exist for one reason: transparency,” said state Rep. Phil Plummer, a Butler Twp. lawmaker who also chairs the county Republican Party, in a statement. “When someone decides to run for Congress, voters deserve to know who is funding that campaign and how money is being spent. If a campaign is operating months before registering and reporting its finances, that raises serious questions that the Federal Election Commission should investigate.”
The Knickerbocker campaign responded to a request for comment from the Dayton Daily News with a statement.
“After 30 years in politics, it’s no surprise that Mike Turner is resorting to desperate, baseless political stunts to distract from the fact that new polling shows him at risk of losing in November,” the statement says. “Kristina served for a decade at Wright Patterson Air Force Base — she’s tougher than bullies like Turner and his corrupt Washington cronies. While he plays political games, she’s focused on fighting for Dayton-area families.”
According to the GOP complaint, Knickerbocker’s campaign failed to register her candidacy before undertaking key activities, and failed to file a 2025 year-end report due to the FEC by Jan. 31.
“This raises a fundamental question: can Knickerbocker even get her basic campaign paperwork right?” a release from the county GOP asks.
FEC rules allow someone considering running for office to spend money “testing the waters” with things like polling or travel before filing federal paperwork. But once a candidate for Congress decides to run and has raised or spent more than $5,000, they are required to file with the FEC.
Knickerbocker filed a “statement of candidacy” with the FEC Jan. 13. The GOP contends campaign activities took place before then.
Republicans point to the registration of an official campaign website address last October; the hiring of CFO Compliance, LLC, a Providence, R.I. political firm Republicans said “typically charges federal campaigns between $2,000 and $3,000 per month,”; as well as “production of a professionally produced campaign launch video, likely costing well in excess of $5,000.”
The video was released the day Knickerbocker officially filed candidacy papers, Republicans say.
“The complaint argues these activities went well beyond testing the waters and show that Knickerbocker had already decided to run for Congress by as early as October 2025, which would require registration and disclosure under federal law,” the GOP contends.
“These listed activities violated federal election law and should be enforced regardless of who commits the violation,” Plummer said in an email.
“Kristina Knickerbocker has publicly made a false campaign pledge that she would not accept political action committee (“PAC”) contributions; however, she is violating that pledge by accepting campaign support from the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), which itself accepts PAC contributions,“ states the complaint, which the Dayton Daily News obtained.
A spokeswoman for Turner said he would have no comment.
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