Derek Merrin

Derek Merrin

Republican Party

Candidate, U.S. House Ohio District 9

Ohio House of Representatives District 42

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2024

Years in position

1

Predecessor

Tom Young

Prior offices

Ohio House of Representatives District 47

Successor: Sara Carruthers

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Compensation

Base salary

$71,099/year

Per diem

$No per diem is paid

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Next election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Toledo, 2008

Graduate

Bowling Green State University, 2009

Personal

Profession

Business Owner

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Derek Merrin (Republican Party) is a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing District 42. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on December 31, 2024.

Merrin (Republican Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Ohio's 9th Congressional District. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024. He advanced from the Republican primary on March 19, 2024.

Biography

Derek Merrin lives in Monclova Township, Ohio. Merrin graduated from Monclova Christian Academy in 2005. He earned a B.A. from the University of Toledo, a master's of public administration from Bowling Green State University, and a public performance measurement certificate from Rutgers University-Newark. His career experience includes working as a business owner, realtor, and state auditor. Merrin served as a councilman and as mayor of the City of Waterville.

2024 battleground election

See also: Ohio's 9th Congressional District election, 2024

Ballotpedia identified the November 5 general election as a battleground race. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.

Incumbent Marcy Kaptur (D) and Derek Merrin (R) are running in the general election on November 5, 2024, to represent Ohio's 9th Congressional District.

Kaptur has represented the district since 1983 and is the longest-serving woman in Congress. Merrin serves in the Ohio House of Representatives. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) and Donald Trump (R) endorsed Merrin in the primary.

The Sandusky Register's Tom Jackson said Kaptur “may be facing the toughest race of her career as she seeks re-election in a northern Ohio district that both sides believe they can win.” Erie County Republican Party chair Caleb Stidham said, “I think the worst mistake Republicans can make is underestimating Marcy Kaptur,” adding, “She’s a fierce competitor. She’s been around for 40 years for a reason. She knows how to campaign.” Kaptur is one of eight Democrats who represent districts that voted for Donald Trump in 2020.

Based on Q2 2024 reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Kaptur raised $3.0 million and spent $0.7 million and Merrin raised $0.7 million and spent $0.3 million. To review all the campaign finance figures in full detail, click here.

Kaptur is running on her record in Congress, saying, “I could point to 1,000 things — voting for the automotive industry, not against it, voting for the steel industry, not against it.” Kaptur added, “People remember, they remember.” Kaptur’s campaign website lists jobs and the economy, Great Lakes restoration efforts, and energy and infrastructure as top priorities. Kaptur said, "I'll continue working across party lines as an independent voice for northern Ohio, a place too often left behind by Washington and Columbus."

Merrin said Kaptur has not delivered for the district while in Congress. "When the voters of Northwest Ohio cast their ballot this November, their choice will be clear: continue the ineffective status quo, or elect a real leader who will deliver tangible results," Merrin said, adding, "Marcy Kaptur hasn’t done squat for the four decades she has served in Congress, and I look forward to bringing forth the meaningful change Northwest Ohioans have deserved for years." Merrin described himself as a constitutional conservative and said, "I believe that the Constitution has laid the foundation for our country to be successful and we need to get back to following the Constitution as federal lawmakers."

As of September 18, 2024, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with three rating it Lean Democratic and one rating it Tilt Democratic.

All 435 U.S. House seats are up for election in 2024. Republicans have a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies. As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting.

Ohio's 9th Congressional District is one of 37 congressional districts with a Democratic incumbent or an open seat that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is targeting in 2024. To read about NRCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of NRCC targeted districts, click here.

Committee assignments

2021-2022

Merrin was assigned to the following committees:

• Civil Justice Committee
• Financial Institutions Committee
• Technology and Innovation Committee
• House Ways and Means Committee, Chair

2019-2020

Merrin was assigned to the following committees:

• House Health Committee, Chair
• House Insurance Committee
• House Ways and Means Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Ohio's 9th Congressional District election, 2024

Ohio's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 19 Republican primary)

Ohio's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 19 Democratic primary)

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for U.S. House Ohio District 9

Incumbent Marcy Kaptur, Derek Merrin, and Tom Pruss are running in the general election for U.S. House Ohio District 9 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
		Marcy Kaptur (D)
		Derek Merrin (R)
		Tom Pruss (L)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 9

Incumbent Marcy Kaptur advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 9 on March 19, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Marcy Kaptur	100.0	38,398

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 38,398
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 9

Derek Merrin defeated Craig Riedel and Steve Lankenau in the Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 9 on March 19, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Derek Merrin	52.5	27,632
		Craig Riedel	34.3	18,072
		Steve Lankenau	13.2	6,946

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 52,650
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Terry Smith (R)
• Daniel Wilczynski (R)
• J.R. Majewski (R) (Unofficially withdrew)

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals. The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times." For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.

The links below show polls for this race aggregated by FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, where available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation.

• FiveThirtyEight

Election campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Marcy Kaptur	Democratic Party	$2,956,813	$700,539	$2,636,320	As of June 30, 2024
Derek Merrin	Republican Party	$668,999	$260,926	$408,073	As of June 30, 2024
Tom Pruss	Libertarian Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Marcy Kaptur Derek Merrin	OpenSecrets Federal Election Commission

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Ohio's 9th Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	September 24, 2024	September 17, 2024	September 10, 2024	September 3, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Toss-up
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Tilt Democratic	Tilt Democratic	Tilt Democratic	Tilt Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Endorsements

Merrin received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

• U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R)
• Former President Donald Trump (Republican Party, Conservative Party)
• Congressional Leadership Fund

Pledges

Merrin signed the following pledges. To send us additional pledges, click here.

• Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Americans for Tax Reform

2022

See also: Ohio House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election for Ohio House of Representatives District 42

Incumbent Derek Merrin defeated Erika White in the general election for Ohio House of Representatives District 42 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Derek Merrin (R)	53.9	22,594
		Erika White (D)	46.1	19,325

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,919
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.