ICYMI: Carey Coleman’s Message to Ohio Teachers: “Go to Hell”
May 14, 2026
COLUMBUS, OH – Despite more than 90% of Ohio teachers being in a union, Republican candidate for Congress in OH-13 Carey Coleman is launching his general election campaign by telling Ohio Teachers Unions to “go to hell.”
“Carey Coleman telling the over 90% of Ohio teachers who belong to a union to ‘go to hell,’ is not only offensive, but it’s reflective of a politician who doesn’t value our educators and doesn’t care about supporting Ohio students,” said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “Ohio educators not only teach students in the classroom, they support students in after school programs, on the playing field, and in gaining the skills to help them to be successful in wherever their future takes them, whether that be college, trade school, military service, and more. Coleman is the wrong leader for Northeast Ohio – and while he told Ohio educators to ‘go to hell,’ Ohioans are going to send him a message too come November.”
In case you missed it, read more on Coleman’s message to Ohio educators as he kicks off the general election:
TiffinOhio: Ohio GOP congressional candidate vowed teachers’ unions can ‘go to hell’
- Carey Coleman won the Republican primary for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District on May 5 — National Teacher Day — and the newly minted GOP nominee is heading into the general election with on-camera comments telling teachers’ unions to “go to hell.”
- A recording from Coleman’s campaign launch event, reviewed by TiffinOhio.net, captured him saying he wanted “to make damn sure if I have any ability in Congress to enact policy to tell these, for one, national teachers unions to go to hell.” In the same remarks, he accused the unions of having “hijacked our education.”
- 91.7% of Ohio teachers are union members
- If Coleman’s pledge is meant as a policy goal, it would put him at odds with the overwhelming majority of Ohio’s public school workforce. The most recent state-level figures from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Teacher and Principal Survey show 91.7% of Ohio public school teachers were members of a union or similar employee association in 2017-18 — among the highest rates in the country and well above the national figure of 69.4%.
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