In a recent interview, Derek Merrin made the wildly out-of-touch claim tha
t “the cost of living…is coming down.” A quick fact check would suggest otherwise: Republicans have wreaked havoc on Ohio’s economy and raised prices on everything from groceries to gas.
While Merrin lies through his teeth, Ohio families are feeling the reality of skyrocketing prices in real time. Costs in the Midwest are up an average of 3.5% from just one year ago, including a 4.5% increase in housing, an 8.1% rise in electricity, and a whopping 23.1% spike in gas prices, the “most expensive August for gasoline in federal records.”
Marcy Kaptur, on the other hand, has made lowering costs for Northwest Ohioans a top priority in Congress, introducing legislation to lower prescription drug prices and crack down on utility hikes by reimbursing ratepayers from FirstEnergy corruption that Merrin supported – all to bring money back to Ohio families’ wallets.
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“Derek Merrin had the nerve to tell Northwest Ohioans that the cost of living is coming down as they continue to get crushed under Republicans’ affordability crisis. Merrin is making it clear to Ohio voters exactly why they DON’T want him in Congress and will re-elect Marcy Kaptur, a real fighter for lower costs.”
Read more:
Tiffin Ohio: Derek Merrin says the cost of living is ‘coming down.’ In Ohio, food, power and gas still cost more.
The Republican congressional candidate made the claim on Labor Day as Midwest consumer prices remained 3.5% higher than a year ago and Ohio gasoline hovered around $4 a gallon.
- Republican congressional candidate Derek Merrin told northwest Ohio voters on Labor Day that progress was being made on one of the issues weighing most heavily on household budgets.
- “The cost of living, we have work to do, but it is coming down,” Merrin said during a Sept. 7 interview with 13abc.
- For Ohio families paying for groceries, electricity, housing and gasoline, however, prices remain higher than they were a year ago.
- The latest federal inflation figures available when Merrin spoke showed consumer prices across the Midwest were 3.5% higher in July than in July 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Groceries were up 2.2%. Shelter was up 4.5%. Electricity was up 8.1%. Gasoline was up 23.1%. Medical-care services were up 3.3%.
- As of Wednesday, Sept. 9, AAA reported Ohio regular gasoline averaging $4.07 a gallon, compared with $3.00 a year ago.
- Ohio had just finished its most expensive August for gasoline in federal records dating to 2003. […] More than a year and a half into Trump’s second term, overall consumer prices have continued to rise.
- Kaptur, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, has made rising utility bills a focus of her work in Congress.
- Kaptur voted in January for a bipartisan federal spending package that included billions of dollars for housing assistance, energy and water infrastructure programs and more than $3.2 million in projects she secured for northwest Ohio, including water infrastructure in Defiance and Erie County. Kaptur said those investments were intended in part to reduce pressure on local utility bills.
- “Affordability isn’t an abstract concept, it’s real dollars and cents,” Kaptur said at the time.
