All five Republican candidates running for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District debate before primary

The five candidates running in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District Republican Party Primary talked about the Iran War, immigration, data centers and transgender athletes playing sports at a recent debate.

VoteRPac, a Toledo group focused on increasing Republican turnout, hosted the debate in Toledo.

The candidates are Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams, former Ohio state Rep. Derek Merrin, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Alea Nadeem, former deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Madison Sheahan, and health care industry worker Anthony Campbell.

Whoever wins the primary will face long-time Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur in the November election. Kaptur has represented Ohio’s 9th congressional district since 1983 — making her the longest-serving woman in congressional history.

Merrin lost a close race to Kaptur during the 2024 election. He received 178,716 votes and Kaptur won with 181,098 votes.

Republican voters in the Northwest Ohio district will cast their ballots in Ohio’s Primary Election on May 5. Early voting is already underway.

Immigration

All of the candidates said Congress does not need an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants.

“Amnesty is a disaster,” Merrin said. “It encourages more illegal immigration … I think they need to go home and we need tough enforcement mechanisms. We need secure borders.”

The candidates also spoke out against sanctuary cities.

“I think we need to withhold federal funding from (sanctuary cities) until they come into compliance and do their part to honor our laws and help us battle on the scourge of illegal immigration,” Merrin said.

Williams said there should not be sanctuary for a criminal anywhere in the world.

“If these individuals want to commit crimes in our community, we need to find them, and we need to get them out,” he said.

The candidates also voiced their support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“ICE officers have to go out every single day to remove those criminals from our street,” Sheahan said. “ICE needs to be able to go out and do their job and remove those illegal criminals. … We will continue to fight to secure the border and allow ICE officers to go out and do their job every single day.”

ICE arrested 240 people in central Ohio during Operation Buckeye in December, but less than 7% of those arrested had a criminal record, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

“The important work that this administration has done with ICE to deport these people has been the best thing for our country,” Nadeem said.

Nadeem mentioned how she came from a family of immigrants — she said her mother is Polish and her father is Middle Eastern.

“Republicans don’t hate immigrants,” she said. “We actually love immigrants … Before we look at any amnesty, we have to deport illegal (immigrants). … I think there’s a place and a time where we can actually look at amnesty, but not today or tomorrow.”

Iran War

Merrin said President Donald Trump has been within his authority when it comes to Iran.

“I do trust him on this issue,” he said. “I hope the conflict with Iran comes to an end here very, very quickly.”

Sheahan repeatedly said Trump puts the American interest first when asked about Trump’s authority to engage in the Iran War.

“He’s been very clear that we cannot have a nuclear Iran,” she said. “He’s been very clear that we have interests in the Middle East, that we have to work with our allies and continue to be the leader of the free world as we continue to work with our military and emphasize peace through strength.”

Campbell said the United States can’t tolerate endless and undeclared wars.

“When it comes to foreign conflicts, we have strayed far away from what the Founding Fathers intended,” he said. “The constitution is abundantly clear — it’s the sole duty of Congress to debate and declare war, while the President must be able to rapidly respond to immediate attacks and protect Americans lives and assets.”

The loopholes in the War Powers Act need to close, Campbell said.

“Every dollar that we spend to go into endless war and conflicts we aren’t spending on our own people, our own future,” he said.

Data centers

Ohio has about 200 data centers, the fifth-highest state in the country. Most of the data centers are in central Ohio. Cincinnati has 26 and Cleveland has 23, according to Data Center Map.

“I think this is one where we have to push this down to the states,” Nadeem said. “If you’re going to put a data center in someone’s backyard, why is the federal government involved in that?”

Campbell said data centers are not automatically a positive thing.

“We can’t blindly build them into this generation’s version of the abandoned shopping malls that we have around,” he said. “We need to really look at those at a local level and put that power into the local level … If a data center comes here, we need to get the guarantee that it’s going to be a net positive for our community’s tax base and infrastructure.”

Sheahan said she would work with local governments to make sure Northwest Ohio has the proper infrastructure for datas centers.

“The number one thing that we have to focus on is that we’re currently in an AI race against China,” she said.

Merrin said data centers do not need to be subsidized and don’t need tax breaks.

Transgender athletes playing women’s sports

All the candidates agreed transgender athletes should not play women’s sports.

“I support a federal law banning men into women’s sports,” Merrin said. “We have to safeguard women’s rights, and that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

Williams talked about how he helped pass Ohio’s law banning transgender athletes playing women’s sports at the high school level. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed the bill, but the bill took effect in 2024 after lawmakers voted to override the veto.

“Men should never be competing in women’s sports,” he said. “It needs 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 a sport that we love because men were not taking those opportunities from us,” she said. “There should never be a moment when a woman has to compete against a male.”

Bringing federal dollars to the 9th district

U.S. Route 23 needs to be fixed so Toledo can have a direct pipeline to Columbus, Williams said.

“We got to fix it because there’s a lot of investment that’s going into the Columbus area where we can’t get suppliers up here in Northwest Ohio because of how long it takes to go down (Route) 23,” he said.

Sheahan said she would use her relationships with people in Washington D.C. to help assist with economic development in the 9th congressional district.

“We need to make sure it’s a priority that we bring opportunity to the Ninth District,” she said.