On Saturday, Alea Nadeem laid out the case directly to voters in northwest Ohio’s paper of record: Ohio’s 9th Congressional District is the linchpin of maintaining a Republican House majority — and she is the only candidate in the GOP primary who can actually win it.

The theory of the case is simple. Marcy Kaptur hasn’t survived 42 years by being strong — she’s survived by facing weak opponents. In 2022 and 2024, Republicans handed her flawed challengers she could tear apart on record, character, or both. Kaptur doesn’t win on her merits. She wins on contrast. The other three candidates in this primary — Derek Merrin, Josh Williams, and Madison Sheahan — give her exactly the kind of contrast she wants.

Alea is the candidate Kaptur doesn’t want to face. No voting record for opposition researchers to weaponize. No scandals. No baggage. Instead, Kaptur would have to defend her own 42-year record against a Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel, former National Security Council staffer, and U.S. Senate legislative liaison who was kidnapped to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq as a child and came home to enlist after 9/11. That’s not a race Kaptur can make about her opponent — it’s a race about her.

In a district where voters are hungry for change but have lacked a credible alternative, Alea resets the board entirely. She’s the only candidate who forces Kaptur to run on defense.

Full text of the op-ed is below.

To the editor: Buckeye State holds key to a Republican majority in ’26
The Toledo Blade | January 31, 2026
By Alea Nadeem

Northwest Ohio doesn’t see itself as the center of American politics. We’re builders, growers, and doers, not cable news-obsessed or Washington insiders.
But whether we like it or not, the future of the U.S. House of Representatives — and the direction of our country — runs through Ohio’s 9th Congressional District.
If Republicans fail to flip this seat in 2026, there is no realistic path to a Republican House majority. If Democrats retain control, Americans know exactly what comes next: endless partisan warfare, impeachment attempts against the President, shutdown chaos, and a Congress obsessed with power rather than people.

This race matters. Republicans don’t just need a candidate — they need a winner. Can you honestly say Marcy Kaptur represents you?

Marcy Kaptur, 79, has represented this district for over 42 years. We need a new generation to lead. During that time, Ohio lost roughly 400,000 manufacturing jobs. The national debt exploded from $1.6 trillion to nearly $38 trillion. All the money she brings back to the district is pork, directly tied to our national debt. Our border collapsed. Fentanyl devastated communities like Toledo.

Yet election after election, Kaptur survives. She can’t defend her record, so she tears down her opponent, and to be fair, we have not put up candidates that reflect the values and ethics of northwest Ohio in recent elections.

Whether you are Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian, we all live here — and we all want our community to thrive. Northwest Ohio deserves a leader who listens, shows up, and works hard. I’m asking for the chance to earn your trust and serve you. Also, a leader you can be proud of who represents you!

In 2022 and 2024, Kaptur faced weak or scandal-plagued challengers and cruised to re-election. In 2026, four Republicans are vying to take her on, and Kaptur is salivating at the prospect of facing Derek Merrin, Josh Williams, or Madison Sheahan — because she believes she will be able to destroy their record, or character, or both.

The race will once again be about them, not Kaptur’s record.
There is one candidate she doesn’t want to face, but she has nothing negative to say, except that I am Republican.

This campaign isn’t about ambition — it’s about service. While Marcy Kaptur spent decades climbing Washington’s political ladder, I spent my adult life serving something greater than myself: the United States of America. I wore the uniform. I swore an oath to defend the Constitution. I understand duty, discipline, and sacrifice, not as slogans but as lived experience.

America gave me everything. As a child, I was kidnapped from Toledo and forced to live in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. This country, with the help of the FBI and my mother, rescued me. That’s why I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force following 9/11 after I graduated from Central Catholic High School. That’s why I continue to serve today as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. That’s why I’ve served as a U.S. military legislative liaison in the U.S. Senate, worked on the National Security Council, and was director of Doorkeepers at the U.S. Senate. And that’s why I’m running: to continue serving the community that shaped my values and work ethic — northwest Ohio. This election offers a clear contrast.

Marcy Kaptur votes like a liberal from California or New York, not like someone representing northwest Ohio. She supports policies that weaken our borders, undermine law enforcement, raise taxes, and advance extreme social agendas that parents here overwhelmingly reject. That’s not who we are. She has lost touch.
Voters tell me the same thing everywhere I go: “She’s the devil we know — but give us a Republican we can believe in.”

So I ask honestly: Are we better off after 42 years of the same leadership? Union jobs are gone. Crime is up. Drugs are everywhere. Education outcomes are worse. Spending is out of control.

I don’t have a 40-year voting record for consultants to spin. I don’t have backroom deals to explain away. I don’t come with scandal, entitlement, or excuses. I grew up in a blue-collar union family in Toledo — my mother and sister are union electricians — and I learned the values that guide me today: hard work, accountability, and service.

Nationwide, voters are rejecting career politicians and choosing leaders politics hasn’t broken.

I’m running to win.

I’m running to serve.

Are you with me?

Ms. Nadeem is a Republican candidate for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District.

https://www.toledoblade.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2026/01/31/to-editor-buckeye-state-holds-key-republican-majority-26/stories/20260129023