Toledo Blade: Retired Union Leader Highlights Marcy Kaptur’s Record of Delivering for Ohioans

In a new letter to the editor, a retired union leader is highlighting Rep. Kaptur’s record of public service, from fighting for Ohio farmers, to strengthening local infrastructure, to making a veteran’s dream of a National World War II Memorial become reality.

The union leader made it clear that while Republican Derek Merrin is “not someone who’s a friend of working people,” Ohioans “know who Marcy Kaptur works for and that’s the kind of representation worth fighting to keep.”

Read more about the Congresswoman’s record:

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

• As a former union leader, I’m grateful to have Marcy Kaptur on my ballot again this year. 
• 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. 
• During meetings with our membership, I always closed with the same reminder: whatever our differences, we had to elect people who understood us and would fight for our cause, because all it takes is the stroke of a pen to lose everything we’ve fought so hard to earn. 
• 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. 
• At a moment when the deck is stacked against working people, when the rich keep getting richer while the rest of us work harder just to keep up, it matters who we send to Washington. It matters whose office picks up the phone when a constituent has a problem and who keeps their biggest donors on speed dial. It matters who spends their time thinking about how to help people back home and who spends it trying to get in with the powerful in Washington and the billionaires on Wall Street.
• 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.