Republican Derek Merrin says he’s leading in his own internal polling against longtime Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, and he’s calling the race the GOP’s best shot in the entire country to flip a Democrat-held seat.
Merrin made the case during an interview on Breitbart News Daily with host Mike Slater, pointing to redistricting that reshaped the 9th District into territory President Trump carried by ten points last cycle.
“This is the best opportunity we have in the nation to defeat an incumbent Democrat. Marcy Kaptur has spent the last 43 years in Washington trying to make the federal government bigger,” Merrin said.
He didn’t stop there, going after Kaptur’s record on immigration, regulation and taxes.
“She’s never met an illegal immigrant she didn’t want to give an American job to. Never saw regulations she didn’t want to strangle a small business with, and never saw a tax increase she didn’t want to levy on the American worker. And we’re going to defeat her this November, Mike.”
Merrin argued Kaptur has never faced a district drawn this favorably for Republicans. “She’s never had to run in a Republican district like this, so we have a great opportunity to flip this seat and help the Republicans hold the House,” he said.
Still, he acknowledged the uphill climb that comes with challenging a career incumbent who holds built-in advantages in money and name recognition.
“Whenever you go up against a career politician and incumbent, they have a lot more money, name recognition. But we are on the offensive. The polling numbers, our internal polling numbers show that if the election was held today, we would win by a couple points, and we feel like we have much momentum on the ground.”
Merrin said his campaign currently has more TV ads on the air than Kaptur’s and claimed he’s winning the “media battle” with a message that’s resonating with voters who feel abandoned by both parties.
“They want real solutions, and they’re tired of the special interests, and they’re tired of a liberal that cares more about illegal immigrants than the American people.”
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