The airwaves in the tossup race for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District are heating up, with Republican Derek Merrin launching his first television ad of the general election, which was obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter.
Merrin, who is challenging longtime Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio), addresses affordability issues head-on in his ad, which he is launching in coordination with the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).
“When my dad was dying from cancer, the treatment cost more than we could afford, so my mom took a second job to save his life,” he says in the ad, emphasizing how personal issues like cost of health care have been to him for decades. “That’s why I wrote the law that slashed the cost of life-saving medicine — to help families like mine.”
Merrin is eager to contrast his record of securing lower drug prices with that of his opponent. “After 40 years in Washington, Marcy Kaptur has failed, and prices keep rising,” he adds in the ad. “I’m running for Congress because, unlike Kaptur, I’ll take on Big Pharma to lower drug prices.”
For years, Republicans have been eager to topple Kaptur, and Merrin — who came a few thousand votes shy of doing so in 2024 — is giving Republicans one of their best shots to do so in decades this cycle.
