In My Opinion - by Bob Ruth
October 18, 2026 — Bob Ruth
David Langdon is not a household name in the Buckeye state.
But the Cincinnati lawyer is well-known – very well-known – among Ohio’s political insiders.
If you’re a consultant who wants to establish a dark-money political action committee (PAC) that doesn’t have to reveal its contributors’ names, Langdon is your guy.
In 2015, the Center for Public Integrity and the Columbus Dispatch wrote, “Langdon is a critical behind-the-scenes player among the small army of lawyers working to keep secret the origins of millions of dollars coursing through the American political system. It is impossible to say where the money flowing through most of the non-profits linked to Langdon comes from.”
That same year, Politico characterized Langdon as the “Ohio lawyer behind the Right’s dark money machine.”
In 2021, the Ohio Capital Journal made a similar observation. It described Langdon as someone “who operates dozens of dark money operations, often supporting socially conservative causes.”
Today, one of those “causes” is a well-financed campaign to defeat a proposal to require voter approval of large industrial developments like data centers in Grove City. The proposed city charter amendment will appear on the Nov. 3 citywide ballot as Issue 28.
Langon’s PAC is called Save Grove City. Langdon registered the organization as a domestic limited liability company (LLC) in Ohio and serves as the PAC’s treasurer.
According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Langdon created 83 similar LLCs or non-profits in just 18 months. One of Langdon’s non-profits, dubbed Protect Patients Indiana, ran ads in 2024 throughout the Hoosier state calling for reductions in government regulations of the health care industry.
The news outlet described Langdon’s organization as a “mysterious group.” The Chronicle added, “Absent from the [group’s] ad and website . . . is any information about Protect Patients Indiana, its financial supporters or any other details about the group.”
Pittsburgh’s Public Source reported in 2015 that Langdon’s non-profits often transfered campaign money among numerous PACs in an attempt to mask the original source of the cash. The news outlet quoted Robert Maguire of the Center for Responsive Politics as saying, “The convoluted network appears pretty clearly to be geared toward opaqueness.”
Such tactics resulted in Langdon getting in the crosshairs of the Federal Elections Commission. The agency launched an investigation into one of Langdon’s PACs that spent $3.4 million to assist in the election of Republican congressmen, The FEC’s general counsel and staff recommended the PAC be found guilty of violating federal election laws. But the case was dropped in 2021 after the commission deadlocked 2-2 on whether to proceed with the case,
(For more information on Langdon and dark money, see In My Opinion’s commentary in ProtectGroveCity.org. headlined, DARK MONEY LAWYER ASSISTS ANTI-ISSUE 28 CAMPAIGN.)
