State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) was chosen by the majority of GOP members on Tuesday to serve as the formal chairman of the House Republican Caucus and vice-chair of its campaign arm, giving him authority over the group’s spending.
Usually, the majority caucus chair would be the same person chosen to lead the 99-member House, but State Representative Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) was controversially elected as speaker to succeed State Representative Bob Cupp (R-Lima).
The choice came despite the Republican Caucus‘ previous selection in November of Merrin as the new speaker. Although the GOP caucus voted for Merrin as Speaker of the House in December, Stephen fought in collaboration with the Democrats to collect votes and garner a win.
According to Merrin, somehow, the Democrats were able to choose the Speaker of the House regardless of a 67-seat Republican majority.
“What happened here today is self-explanatory by the vote totals. The Democrats have chosen who the speaker of the House will be,” Merrin said.
Since the speaker election, both Merrin and Stephens have disagreed over who the true leader of the House Republican Caucus is, with both claiming that they hold the position.
Critics such as Ohio attorney Scott Pullins said that the position of chair of the Republican Caucus that lawmakers elected Merrin to doesn’t exist.
“There is no such position of Chair and Vice Chair of the Republican Caucus. They made it up. And the Chair and Vice Chair of the campaign committee are not elected. They are appointed by Speaker Stephens. They can’t just seize the bank account,” Pullins said.
However, according to State Representative Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) Pullins is incorrect in his claims.
“That is false. We voted as a Majority Caucus for Derek Merrin. Jason Stephens has yet to win a single vote with a majority of Republicans. Leader of the caucus is a different position than Speaker of the House. Derek Merrin is the leader of the caucus which is an internal partisan vote. Each party gets to take that vote but only for their respective party,” Ferguson said.
Additionally, lawmakers elected State Representative Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) to serve alongside Merrin as vice-chair of the Ohio House Republican Caucus and as the chair of the Ohio House Republican Alliance (OHRA) campaign committee.
The Republican Caucus invited Stephens and his 21 supporters to the meeting, but they did not attend.
According to Merrin, he is thankful for the majority caucus’ support in electing him as the leader.
“I am thankful to my colleagues for entrusting me to lead the House Republican Caucus for the 135th General Assembly. I am also excited to work with Represetative Plummer to help ensure that we elect conservative leaders to the Ohio House in 2024 who are committed to advancing legislation to help hardworking Ohioans,” Merrin said.
Plummer said in his leadership positions he would put in endless effort to support the election of solid Republican state Representatives to push conservative ideas.
“It is an honor that my peers have elected me to run the Ohio House Republican Alliance for the 2024 campaign cycle. We have a lot of work to do to further the Republican majority and it won’t be easy, but I will work tirelessly to help recruit and elect strong Republican state Representatives to advance conservative principles in Columbus,” Plummer said.
According to Plummer, the caucus will not tolerate any more attempts by dictators to impose their sole will from here on out and says that Stephens “needs to resign.”
“100 percent I mean it, Republicans will not let this continue to happen. We will no longer allow dictators to attempt to control the caucus, we deserve respect and for our voices to be heard,” Plummer said.
The OHRA leadership said that they will be working over the next several days and weeks to assemble personnel and a team that will oversee the efforts for successful Ohio House Republican elections in 2024.
– – –
Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Derek Merrin” by Derek Merrin.
