Derek Merrin

Republican nominee in Ohio's 9th district, in a 2026 rematch against longtime Democrat Marcy Kaptur after coming within ~1,200 votes in 2024.

Key facts

• Born Jan 4, 1986. Waterville, OH — city councilman/mayor by his early 20s; once worked for then-Auditor Dave Yost. BA (Toledo); MPA (Bowling Green).
• Ohio House 2016–2025 (47th, then 42nd district).
• Lost the 2023 Ohio House Speaker race to Jason Stephens 54–43, after Stephens assembled a bipartisan coalition — a bitter intra-GOP fight that defined the Statehouse Republican caucus for that term.
• 2024 GOP nominee in OH-9; narrowly lost to Kaptur. Running again in 2026.

Relationships

• Opponent of Marcy Kaptur in Ohio's 9th Congressional District (2026).
• Part of the U.S. House battleground within the Ohio 2026 Elections slate.

Sources

• Marcy Kaptur — Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-07-03)
• Derek Merrin — Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-07-03)
• Greg Landsman — Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-07-03)
• Ohio Redistricting Commission unanimously passes congressional map furthering GOP advantage — Ohio Capital Journal (retrieved 2026-07-03)
• Rating the New Ohio congressional map (Sabato's Crystal Ball) — UVA Center for Politics (retrieved 2026-07-03)
• 2025 Year in Review: Ohio gets another new congressional map — Statehouse News Bureau (retrieved 2026-07-03)
• 2026 United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio — Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-07-03)