OHDems

COLUMBUS, OH – Max Miller has had another very bad week, claiming that the economy is “actually doing very well right now,” in a local interview at a time when more and more Republicans are voicing their support for Brian Poindexter.

As Ohio Republicans raise Ohioans’ costs and rip away families’ healthcare, registered Republican voters are slamming Miller, with one saying that she’s planning to “vote entirely Democratic this year,” and another emphasizing his support for Brian as someone who “will always hear him out.” Brian Poindexter’s growing support from Republican voters in Ohio’s 7th congressional district comes as Ohio “has become one of the GOP’s biggest headaches for the midterms,” with all three major nonpartisan race raters — Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball — shifting the OH07 congressional race to “Toss-Up.” 

Read more about Max Miller’s bad week of showing how little he cares about the reality that Ohioans are facing as Ohioans of all political backgrounds are rallying behind Brian Poindexter:

Ohio Capital Journal: In an Ohio congressional race with national scrutiny, Brian Poindexter wants to win on his own terms

• Poindexter has limited name recognition in his district, but his unusual biography could help, said Cyril Kleem, the Republican mayor of Berea. Brook Park shares a school district with Berea, and Kleem endorsed Poindexter in early August.
• “A lot of working class people have felt left out,” Kleem said. ‘Some of those people have gravitated toward the Republican Party, particularly toward Donald Trump, because I think to a certain extent, the Democratic Party has been accused of forgetting about them. I think he represents them.”
• Victoria Kovach, a registered Republican from Strongsville who works as a server and social worker, said she plans to vote entirely Democratic this year. She usually votes Republican in local elections, she said, but the last time she voted in a federal race was for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
• Even though they don’t always see eye to eye on policy, Kleem said Poindexter will always hear him out. Poindexter emphasizes a commitment to strong constituent services when speaking to voters, promising to hold quarterly town halls and establish congressional offices throughout the district if elected.
• When asked what legislation he would support on his first day in office, he immediately said the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. Reintroduced in 2025, it would give more power to unions and weaken right-to-work laws. He has also said he would support Moreno’s push to lift the cap on the amount of annual income subject to the payroll tax that funds Social Security.
• “I don’t have to be pro-labor, folks. I am labor,” Poindexter said in a speech at the North Shore AFL-CIO headquarters in July. “My friends, my family — I would not be able to look them in the eye if I went to Washington and forgot where I came from.”

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COLUMBUS, OH – In bold new comments on the Jake Underwood Show, Max Miller is showing just how out-of-touch he really is, claiming that “once you really put it into perspective, the economy is actually doing very well right now.” Miller’s comments come at a time when Ohioans are calling out Washington Republicans – like Max Miller, Mike Turner and Mike Carey – for their support for Trump and Washington Republicans’ devastating economic policies, like their tariffs, reckless war with Iran, and healthcare cuts.

“While Ohioans continue to call out Washington Republicans for their devastating economic policies that are raising Ohioans’ costs and ripping away their healthcare, Max Miller is apparently so deeply out-of-touch with his own constituents that he thinks the economy is ‘actually doing very well right now,’” said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “Max Miller’s comments are an insult to every Ohio family who is struggling because Max Miller and Washington Republicans decided to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporate special interests while hardworking Ohioans foot the bill – and Ohioans are going to make him pay for it in November.”

While Ohio “has become one of the GOP’s biggest headaches for the midterms,” all three major nonpartisan race raters — Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball — shifted the OH07 congressional race in Democrat Brian Poindexter’s direction to “Toss-Up.” “Republicans now say they’ll spend tens of millions of dollars in Ohio races they once were heavily favored to win this fall,” with recent analysis also making clear that, Donald Trump’s disastrous economic policies and political problems could have “metastasized and spread to infect Republican candidates on the November ballot in swing states and districts.”

Read more about the actual reality for Ohio families as Miller claims that the economy is “actually doing very well right now,” and “overall, most people would acknowledge that… things are probably going a little bit better than they expected:”

Ohio Capital Journal: Regional businesses say Iran war, Trump tariffs are increasing prices, hurting the economy

Statehouse News Bureau: Report: more than half a million Ohioans could lose Medicaid coverage in next decade

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio will lose 51,000 jobs, $5.3 billion due to Trump cuts by 2029, new analysis finds

Signal Ohio: Electric bills hit new highs across Ohio, state data shows

Cleveland.com: Trump policies have cost Ohio households thousands since January 2025, report finds

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio ratepayers’ summer electric bills could top $800, report says

Cleveland.com: Gas prices jump 30 cents in Northeast Ohio, top $4 per gallon

Ohio Capital Journal: One year after biggest SNAP cuts ever, 100,000 Ohioans without help, state bracing for costs

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“We know who Marcy Kaptur works for and that’s the kind of representation worth fighting to keep”

COLUMBUS, OH – As Republican corruption in Columbus and Washington raises costs for Ohio families while billionaires and corporate special interests line their pockets, Ohioans are slamming Derek Merrin for failing repeatedly to stand up for workers. Last week, a retired union leader’s letter to the editor in the Toledo Bladehighlighted how Derek Merrin and Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s records could not be more different. Emphasizing that labor’s fight is “for every working person trying to build a decent life,” the author draws a sharp contrast between Rep. Kaptur, who “understands that,” and Merrin, who has given “little reason to believe he does.” The letter also calls out Merrin for supporting efforts to “take paid sick leave away from public employees” and backing legislation that “would have made it harder for workers to organize and bargain for fair wages and safer workplaces” – and makes clear that he is “not someone who’s a friend of working people.”

On the other hand, Ohio workers know that they have a leader “who will actually have your back” in Rep. Marcy Kaptur. As a lifelong fighter for Ohio workers, Rep. Kaptur has earned the largest coalition of labor support in this race. Unions are lining up alongside her including ACT Ohio, AFSCME Power in Action, Amalgamated Transit Union, Association of Flight Attendants, IAFF Local 92, Ohio AFL-CIO, Ohio Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, Ohio Brotherhood of Carpenters, Ohio Conference of Teamsters, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Ohio Nurses Association, Painters & Allied Trades District Council No. 6 State of Ohio and Central Kentucky, Service Employees International Union, UA Local 50 Plumbers, Steamfitters & Service Mechanics, United Auto Workers, and United Steel Workers.

While Merrin gets slammed for his anti-worker record, read more from a retired union leader about how he has “never known anyone more committed to the working people of Ohio’s 9th District” than Marcy Kaptur.

Toledo Blade: To the editor: Retired union leader recalls Kaptur’s record

• I had the privilege of working with Marcy during my time as business manager for IBEW Local 245, and in all those years, I’ve never known anyone more committed to the working people of Ohio’s 9th District.
• The kind of public servant Marcy is has become increasingly rare. She understands that the job is about serving the people who sent her there. Marcy listens to all of us, she represents all of us, and she fights for all of us.
• You can see that in what she has delivered for northwest Ohio. She’s fought to make sure our farmers have the resources they need to keep growing the food that feeds our communities and keep their family farms sustainable for future generations. She delivered funding to build the Veterans’ Glass City Skyway and strengthen the 180th Fighter Wing, one of our region’s greatest sources of pride. And after a local World War II veteran came to her with an idea for a national memorial, she turned that dream into a reality. That’s why it’s crucial to have a representative like Marcy in our corner.
• While we’re getting crushed by this affordability crisis that just keeps getting worse and our workers are getting their hard-earned protections and labor power rolled back, we need someone who understands that the fight for good jobs, fair wages, and strong unions isn’t just labor’s fight — it’s a fight for every working person trying to build a decent life for themselves and their families. I know from working with Marcy that she understands that. Her opponent, Derek Merrin, gives me little reason to believe he does.
• As mayor of Waterville and then again as a state representative, he supported efforts to take paid sick leave away from public employees. He backed legislation that would have made it harder for workers to organize and bargain for fair wages and safer workplaces. That’s not someone who’s a friend of working people.
• After a lifetime in organized labor, I’ve seen plenty of politicians show up on a picket line with a camera crew during election season. You learn pretty quickly who is there for the photo op and who will actually have your back when something is on the line. Marcy is one of the few I’ve always known I could count on.
• Washington already has enough politicians treating Congress like a fast pass into the VIP section — desperate for a key to a locked room filled with billionaires, corporate interests, and powerful donors who can bankroll their next campaign, no matter what strings come attached. Working people don’t need another politician begging to be let in. We need someone willing to break down the door, show the American people exactly who’s inside, and fight like hell to take our government back from the powerful elites rigging the system against us.
• We know who Marcy Kaptur works for and that’s the kind of representation worth fighting to keep.

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“In a critical midterm election year, Republicans can’t run from the harm that their agenda is causing for hardworking Ohioans”

COLUMBUS, OH – As Vice President JD Vance heads to Ohio today, Ohioans are slamming Ohio Republicans for supporting the Trump Administration’s devastating economic policies – and “Republicans are struggling up and down the ballot in the Rust Belt state.” At a time when Ohio “has become one of the GOP’s biggest headaches for the midterms,” “Republicans now say they’ll spend tens of millions of dollars in Ohio races they once were heavily favored to win this fall.”

“Trump and Washington Republicans’ economic policies are devastating Ohio families — and Ohioans are calling out Ohio Republicans up and down the ballot for raising their costs with reckless tariffs and a dangerous war with Iran and ripping away their healthcare so special interests and billionaires can get richer,”said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “While JD Vance emphasizes just how out-of-touch Washington Republicans are with their deeply unpopular economic agenda, Ohioans of all political backgrounds are supporting Ohio Democrats who will lower costs, take on Republican corruption, and get our state and country back on track.”

Recent analysis emphasized that thanks to Donald Trump’s disastrous economic policies, his political problems could have “metastasized and spread to infect Republican candidates on the November ballot in swing states and districts.” Cook Political Report last week moved OH10 and OH15 races towards Democrats, while all three major nonpartisan race raters — Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball — shifted the OH07 congressional race in Democrat Brian Poindexter’s direction to “Toss-Up” in a span of less than 24 hours.

Read more about how Ohioans are calling out Ohio Republicans for their support of Trump, JD Vance, and Washington Republicans’ devastating economic agenda:

Akron Beacon Journal: Republicans can’t run from the harm their agenda is causing | Letter

• No matter where you live in our state, the reality is crystal clear that Republican policies from Washington to Columbus are raising costs for families and hurting our communities. Democrats across the country are seeing wins not only in blue areas, but purple and even red areas too because Americans are tired of Washington only working for billionaires and corporate special interests and hurting everyone else.
• In a critical midterm election year, Republicans can’t run from the harm that their agenda is causing for hardworking Ohioans, like their tariffs that have raised the price of goods and threatened small businesses’ ability to keep their doors open, or their reckless war with Iran that has sky-rocketed gas prices, or their health care cuts that are ripping health care away from Americans and putting local hospitals at risk.

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohioans criticize Ohio US Rep. Mike Carey for cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and education

• Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey’s constituents are speaking out against Congress’s cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and education. 
• “We’re here today to demand that Rep. Carey chose priorities that put people first,” said Kate Terenzi with the Center for Popular Democracy. 
• More than 100,000 Ohioans — including more than 50,000 children — have lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” made the largest cuts to food stamps in the history of the program. 
• Carey voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and represents Ohio’s 15th Congressional district.
• Carey’s office did not respond to a request for comment by the Ohio Capital Journal. 
• In Ohio’s 15th district, 220,200 residents rely on Medicaid, 12% of households receive SNAP, an estimated 33,000 people could lose health coverage by 2034, and $40.4 million in special education funding is at risk, according to event organizers.

Journal-News: OPINION: Ohioans foot the bill for Mike Turner’s mess

• While Turner and politicians in Washington celebrate paper promises, working people in Ohio are paying the actual invoice. My husband, a proud union plumber, wants nothing more than to finally retire after decades of intense physical labor. Instead, we are trapped on a financial treadmill.
• While I retired five years ago from teaching, I’ve had to go back to work, picking up two part-time roles, one at a nonprofit and another consulting. Math isn’t my forte, but two part-time jobs equal working full time once again in retirement. We do what we do to keep our heads above water financially.
• Fueled by the president’s reckless tariffs, the everyday costs of survival were high before the president decided to start a war in Iran, but now they are even worse. We’ve shelled out an additional $300 more for gas since the war began and prices at the grocery are going up at an increasing clip. I recently opened our electric bill from AES and was left speechless seeing that the invoice was for $1,000.
• When Turner looks at this geopolitical landscape and sees a “significant accomplishment,” he reveals how profoundly disconnected he and his colleagues in Washington have become from the painful realities confronting families across southwest Ohio.
• For our community, the fallout hasn’t been an abstract policy debate; it has meant dramatic, punishing costs at the gas pump and at the supermarket checkout counter.
   

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As Ohio families get crushed by a 17% spike in summer electric bills, reporting exposes Merrin’s pay-to-play record on the data center giveaways draining Ohio taxpayers

COLUMBUS, OH – Reminder, while Ohio families are struggling with sky-high summer electric bills, Republican Derek Merrin is facing scrutiny for his record of voting to hand Big Tech billions in data center tax breaks — and then cashing campaign checks from the very companies raking in the profits. In 2017, Merrin voted for Ohio’s data center tax break scheme, signing on to shell out more than $2 billion to data centers while in the statehouse. Since then, Ohio families have footed the bill for the $2.5 billion in state and local tax incentives that Ohio data centers have received.

“Derek Merrin voted to hand billions in tax breaks to data centers at the expense of working Ohioans, who are now paying the price while Merrin pockets the profits,” said Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director Marisa Nahem. “This is exactly the kind of culture of corruption that has become a staple of Republican control and that Ohioans are sick of, which is one of the many reasons why come November, they’ll reject Merrin once again.”

Ohio is now home to more than 200 data centers, the sixth-highest in the nation. While Merrin rakes in campaign cash from PACs that have profited from over $17 million in data center tax breaks, utility bills across Ohio were projected to hit $800 this summer, a 17% jump over last year. Now, Merrin wouldn’t even comment when asked about his position on the subject.

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur is calling out Merrin for his support for the data centers that are raising Ohioans’ costs, emphasizing in a new ad that she will “never give tax breaks to subsidize more data centers.” Rep. Kaptur also took to the floor of the House of Representatives to demand that data centers be held accountable: “How much more will our citizens be forced to pay for power and water? They have a right to know.”

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