Democrat Richard Cordray and Republican Mike DeWine hope to get by — to the governor's office — with a little help from their friends.

Political action committees are dropping millions of dollars on TV commercials and mailers in Ohio in hopes of swaying voters to side with one of the major party candidates Nov. 6, according to Federal Election Commission filings disclosed Monday.

Super-PACs can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions, associations and individuals and spend unlimited sums to support or oppose political candidates, but cannot legally coordinate their activities with campaigns.

The Democratic Governors Association created an Ohio-specific super-PAC dubbed A Stronger Ohio earlier this year to fund its efforts to elect Cordray.

It raised $2.8 million between July 1 and Sept. 30, and booked $2.5 million in media buys, with $800,000 coming from the DGA-created Jobs & Opportunity, another super-PAC that channeled nearly all of its money to Ohio.

Also kicking into the Democratic governors stash were political action committees for the American Federation of Labor, $475,000; the DGA, $375,000; former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's National Democratic Redistricting Committee and Ohio Education Association, $250,000 each; and AFSCME-Ohio, American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, $100,000 each.

In addition to attack ads on Cordray it purchased directly, the Republican Governors Association's Right Direction PAC also is airing ongoing TV commercials supporting DeWine — and attacking Cordray — but its Ohio-specific spending could not be determined from its federal filing. It spent more than $8 million nationally during the reporting period, with nearly all of its funding coming from its parent.

The Republican Governors Association, however, created a super-PAC earlier this year to handle what appears to be direct-mail efforts benefiting DeWine.

Securing Ohio's Future Action Fund reported $600,000 in contributions, all from the RGA, and $214,000 in spending with Majority Strategies, the Florida firm in which ex-Ohioan Brett Buerck, former chief of staff to then-House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, now is chief executive officer.

The heavy spending, of course, comes from the candidates' campaign committees. DeWine ($24.3 million) and Cordray ($13.8) had raised a record $38.1 million for the governor's race through the end of September. Ohioans will get their last pre-election look at candidates' fund-raising and spending in state reports due by Oct. 25.

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlow