OHIO — The 2024 March primary is right around the corner, which is expected to include several heated congressional races in the Buckeye state.

Among those is the 9th district in the northwest part of the state.

What You Need To Know

  • State Rep. Derek Merrin announced his U.S. Congressional bid in the Republican Primary for the seat currently being held by Rep. Marcy Kaptur

  • J.R. Majewski, and former State Rep. Craig Riedel are also running in the Primary

  • Rep. Kaptur has served 21 terms in Congress.

U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur has held the seat for more than 40 years and has been challenged numerous times for her congressional seat. This year, three GOP candidates are challenging Kaptur: Republican State Representative Derek Merrin, J.R. Majewski and former State Representative Craig Riedel. 

Merrin was a late addition to the race after House leaders convinced him to enter.

“I think the, the U.S. House leadership wants to be able to win this district, and they’ve got to win districts like this to be able to retain their majority in the House,” said Paul Beck, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Ohio State University. 

J.R. Majewski is running again nearly two years after falling short in the 2022 general election.

“He will always stand with him (former President Donald Trump) and looks forward to working alongside him in Congress in 2025,” Majewski’s campaign team said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, national Republican leaders have shown little confidence in Majewski.

“They wanted to make sure they could recruit somebody who could win the nomination easily,” Beck said, “and then be much more competitive against Kaptur than the majority had been.” 

“I cannot sit back and hand away this seat to Marcy Kaptur, jeopardizing the future of our country,” State Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) said. “I look forward to crisscrossing the district over the coming months as we push forward to bring Marcy Kaptur back home and restore strong, conservative leadership to Washington.” 

Political Scientist Justin Buchler believes it comes down to finding someone with the most experience to give Kaptur a run for her money.

“Derek Merrin is an Ohio State representative, which means he has experience in elected office and that means that he might have a chance,” Buchler said. 

“After great pressure from Washington and Columbus, the GOP has added another candidate to its March primary,” U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s campaign office said in a statement. “These are the same political power brokers who orchestrated failure after failure in the house of representatives this year. Congresswoman Kaptur remains focused on working across the aisle, getting Congress to work for all of the people, and on delivering real results for northwestern Ohio.”