US Capitol. (Photo: Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
During a recent debate, the five candidates running in the Republican primary for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District discussed the war in Iran, immigration, data centers and transgender athletes.
The Toledo debate was hosted by VoteRPac, a Toledo-based group focused on increasing Republican turnout.
The candidates are Ohio Republican Josh Williams, former Ohio Republican Derek Merrin, Air Force Lt. Col. Alea Nadeem, former deputy director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency Madison Sheahan and health care worker Anthony Campbell.
Whoever wins the primary will face longtime incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur in the November election. Hood has represented Ohio’s 9th Congressional District since 1983, making her the longest-serving woman in congressional history.
Merrin lost a close race to Hood in the 2024 election. He received 178,716 votes, and Kaptur won with 181,098 votes.
Republican voters in northwest Ohio will cast their ballots in the Ohio primary on May 5. Early voting has already started.
Immigration
All candidates said Congress does not need an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants.
“The amnesty is a disaster,” Merrin said. “It encourages more illegal immigration… I think they should come home and we need strong enforcement mechanisms. We need secure borders.”
Candidates also spoke out against sanctuary cities.
“I believe we should stop federal funding for (sanctuary cities) until they come into compliance and make every effort to honor our rights and help us fight the scourge of illegal immigration,” Merrin said.
Williams stated that there should be no refuge for a criminal anywhere in the world.
“If these people want to commit crimes in our community, we need to find them and get them out,” he said.
The candidates also expressed their support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“ICE officers must go out every day to get these criminals off our streets,” Sheahan said. “ICE must be able to come out, do its job and remove illegal criminals.[…]We will continue to fight to secure the border and allow ICE officers to go out and do their jobs every day.”
ICE arrested 240 people in central Ohio during December’s Operation Buckeye, but fewer than 7% of those arrested had a criminal history– reports The Columbus Dispatch.
“The important work that the administration did with ICE to deport these individuals was the best thing for our country,” Nadeem said.
Nadeem mentioned that she comes from an immigrant family – she said her mother is Polish and her father is from the Middle East.
“Republicans don’t hate immigrants,” she said. “We really love immigrants… Before we consider any amnesty, we need to deport illegal (immigrants)…. I think there is a place and time where we can actually look at amnesty, but not today or tomorrow.”
War in Iran
Merrin said that when it comes to Iran, President Donald Trump is within its borders.
“I trust him on this,” he said. “I hope the conflict with Iran ends here very, very soon.”
Sheahan has repeatedly said that Trump puts American interests first when asked about Trump’s authority to engage in the Iran war.
“He made it very clear that we cannot have a nuclear Iran,” she said. “He made it very clear that we have interests in the Middle East, that we must work with our allies and continue to be the leader of the free world by continuing to work with our military and emphasizing peace through strength.”
Campbell said the United States cannot tolerate endless and undeclared wars.
“When it comes to foreign conflicts, we have moved far from the intentions of the Founding Fathers,” he said. “The Constitution is abundantly clear – Congress’ sole duty is to debate and declare war, while the President must be able to respond quickly to immediate attacks and protect American lives and property.”
Campbell said loopholes in the War Powers Act must be closed.
“Every dollar we spend on endless wars and conflicts, we are not spending on our own people and our own future,” he said.
Data centers
Ohio has approx 200 data centersthe fifth largest state in the country. Most data centers are located in central Ohio. Cincinnati says there are 26 and Cleveland has 23 Data center map.
“I think in this case we need to push this to the state level,” he added. Nadeem he said. “If you’re going to put a data center in someone’s backyard, why does the federal government get involved?”
Campbell said data centers are not automatically a positive thing.
“We can’t blindly build them into the current generation of abandoned malls we have nearby,” he said. “We need to really look at these issues at the local level and devolve that power to the local level… If a data center is built here, we need to get assurances that it will be a positive solution for our community’s tax base and infrastructure.”
Sheahan said she will work with local governments to make sure northwest Ohio has adequate infrastructure for data centers.
“The most important thing we need to focus on is that we are currently in an artificial intelligence race with China,” she said.
Merrin said data centers do not need to be subsidized and do not need tax breaks.
Transgender athletes in women’s sports
All candidates agreed that transgender athletes should not play women’s sports.
“I support federal law prohibiting men from playing women’s sports,” Merrin said. “We have to protect women’s rights and that’s what I will do.”
Williams talked about how he helped pass a bill in Ohio banning transgender athletes from playing women’s sports at the high school level. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed the bill, but it took effect in 2024 after lawmakers voted to override the veto.
“Men should never compete in women’s sports,” he said. “It has to be federal law.”
Sheahan talked about her time as a student-athlete at Ohio State University on the women’s rowing team.
“We went out and had the opportunity to compete in the sport we love because men weren’t taking those opportunities away from us,” she said. “There should never be a point where a woman has to compete with a man.”
Bringing federal dollars to the 9th district
U.S. Route 23 needs to be repaired so Toledo can have a direct pipeline to Columbus, Williams said.
“We need to fix this because there is a lot of development going on in the Columbus area where we can’t bring suppliers to northwest Ohio because of the time it takes to get through Route 23,” he said.
Sheahan said she would employ her relationships with Washingtonians to facilitate with economic development in the 9th Congressional District.
“We need to make sure that ensuring opportunities for the Ninth Circuit is a priority,” she said.
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