TOLEDO, Ohio —
With four days left until Election Day, Democrat Marcy Kaptur and Republican Derek Merrin gave voters final messages on Friday about why they should be elected to represent Ohio's 9th Congressional District.
Incumbent Marcy Kaptur has been serving northwest Ohio for close to 42 years. As the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress, she has worked on bringing federal investments to the region, including money to the Veteran's Glass City Skyway Bridge and the 180th Fighter Wing.
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State Rep. Derek Merrin is serving his fourth term in the Ohio legislature, representing the 42nd District. While serving as a representative, he has sponsored legislation to help children and spouses of military and law enforcement killed in the line of duty access college tuition waivers.
He previously served as the mayor of Waterville.
While campaigning in south Toledo on Friday, Kaptur focused on healthcare, saying it's important to protect the Affordable Care Act and keep the cost of medicine down. She spoke about House Speaker Mike Johnson, saying he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and that Merrin supports doing the same.
At Merrin's event in east Toledo, when asked about the Affordable Care Act, he refused to answer.
Merrin said he wanted to focus on discussing oil refineries. He said Kaptur and President Joe Biden have been against affordable energy, forcing people to buy electric vehicles and wanting to power the economy with windmills.
If elected, Merrin said he would defend Lucas County oil refineries and protect local jobs tied to the refineries.
He added that Kaptur voted against House Resolution 1, which prohibits the president from declaring a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracking.
"A top priority of mine in Congress is going to be to protect our oil refineries," Merrin said. "To lower the energy cost for Americans, and allow people to choose whatever car they want to drive. No one should be forced to drive an electric vehicle. We need to lower energy costs here in America."
Kaptur said she has been able to assist in putting more equipment at the refineries and has helped diversify the portfolio of the refineries.
"We've been responsible for the legislation that's created the entire biofuel industry," Kaptur said. "Whether it's been biodiesel or ethanol, it's in everybody's tank, and we are on the cusp of building a hydrogen hub, which is already started."
Kaptur's final message to voters was the importance of voting.
"Your power is your vote," she said. "The vote is precious. People have died for our right to vote, and Americans have died around the world for the right of other people in other societies that wanted to be democratic."
In his final message to voters, Merrin said voters deserve someone who is going to be excited to work for them in Washington.
"We need change," he said. "We need to stand up for the working men of this area. We need to put American citizens first, before illegal immigrants. We've got to lower the cost of living and we have to take on the political class. Both parties have failed. We have to elect people that are going to put our country first."
There is a third candidate in the race, Tom Pruss, who is running as a libertarian. Pruss has worked in the printing industry and is active in the Polish-American community in northwest Ohio. According to Pruss' website, he wants to reform drug approval processes to help lower the prices of prescriptions.