TOLEDO, Ohio — Four candidates -- one incumbent Democrat and three Republican challengers -- are running this year for Ohio's 9th Congressional District seat in Congress.
In Ohio's March primary, Republican voters will nominate one candidate to face incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo).
The Republican candidates are State Rep. Derek Merrin, former State Rep. Craig Riedel and former Napoleon mayor Steve Lankenau.
Republican candidate J.R. Majewski was also in the primary race but suspended his campaign in early March.
Marcy Kaptur
Kaptur, 77, is the longest-serving woman in Congress and the longest-serving member of Ohio's Congressional delegation. She is seeking re-election to a 22nd consecutive term. She was first elected to Congress in 1983 when she upset first-term Republican Ed Weber and became one of only 23 women in Congress at the time.
She was born in Toledo and lives in her childhood home.
She graduated from St. Ursula Academy in 1964. She was the first member of her family to attend college and holds academic degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan.
From 1977 to 1979, she was a domestic policy advisor for President Jimmy Carter.
She currently serves on two House Appropriations subcommittees: Energy and Water Development, where she is a ranking member, and Defense.
Derek Merrin
Merrin, 37, is currently serving his fourth term as a state representative for Ohio's 42nd District, which covers a portion of south Toledo, stretches west to around Swanton and is bounded in the south by the Maumee River just before Grand Rapids.
He was appointed to the state house seat in August 2016 to replace Barbara Sears, who took a position in Gov. John Kasich's administration. He then won his own term the following general election.
Merrin is from and lives in Monclova Township, where he graduated from Monclova Christian Academy. He is a real estate investor and holds academic degrees from the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University, according to his website.
He previously served in city government beginning at the age of 19 when he was elected to Waterville City Council. He held that seat from 2006 to 2008 until he was elected mayor at the age of 21 and served from 2008 to 2011, according to his website.
Heading into 2023, Merrin was considered a shoo-in for speaker of the house and had significant Republican backing. However, he lost the position to Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) after Democratic support notched Stephens a bipartisan victory.
Craig Riedel
Riedel, 57, last served in elected office in 2022 when he left after three terms representing State House District 82. He won a Republican primary in 2016 and ran unopposed in the general election for that seat.
He represented Defiance, Paulding and Van Wert counties as well as a portion of Auglaize County. He was born in Attica and graduated from Seneca East High School and then Ohio State University, according to his website.
Riedel left his Ohio House seat to run in the 9th Congressional District race in 2022, but he lost in the primary.
He spent 27 years working for a steel construction company, according to his website, and is actively involved in the Defiance community where he and his family live.
Steve Lankenau
Lankenau, 61, served three terms as mayor of Napoleon in his early 20s.
After serving as mayor, he attended and graduated from Harvard. He also holds a degree from Miami University.
He now works as a real estate broker in Defiance where he and his family live. He previously worked in the healthcare industry and owned a radio station, he said.
He and his wife, Sallie, married in the summer of 2023.
