The ad wars are heating up across the nation, but one ad taking over Ohio’s air waves is blaming a Republican candidate for a vote he never took.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) is criticizing former state Representative Derek Merrin for “sign[ing] off on $2 billion more for data centers.” But a Washington Reporter review of Merrin’s time in the legislature found that the vote Kaptur is citing was a procedural one about a budget that was enacted three years before Merrin first took office.
Kaptur’s ad alleges that Merrin’s vote on a 2017 state budget was a tax break for Ohio data centers; but the budget bill he voted for was an extension of a 2013-era investment period for data centers in Ohio. His 2017 vote tweaked the requirements from a five year to a six year investment period.
In Ohio, data centers are emerging as hot-button issues for races up and down the ballot — and Republicans increasingly believe that both Kaptur’s vote for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the tens of thousands of dollars that she has taken from data center-related companies put her, and not Merrin, in a tough spot.
A Reporter review of Kaptur’s campaign finance reports shows that she has taken almost $200,000 from employees at data center-related companies. Merrin, by contrast, has received two donations from similar entities, totaling $1,500.
