Voters speak out in key swing district that could determine control of House: 'Kicked' to the 'curb'

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Battleground district voters speak out on top election issues weighing on them

Fox News Digital spoke to Republican volunteers in Toledo, Ohio, about the issues that motivated them to get involved

TOLEDO – Several Republican volunteers in one of Ohio’s most critical swing districts spoke out about what issues matter most to them and why they believe that former President Trump will continue his recent success in the swing state.

"What really gets me motivated is sitting around hearing all this stuff that's going on with our country, with the economy, with inflation being real bad, with our wages being eroded like 20% last four years," Charlie Pengov, a lifelong Toledo resident volunteering for GOP House candidate Derek Merrin told Fox News Digital. "So instead, I've been taught that if you have anxiety about this, these kind of things, get involved and do something."

Although Ohio’s long history of being a swing state has been eroded recently after former President Trump won the state by 8 points in 2020 and is expected to do even better in 2024, the race between Merrin and incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur in Toledo takes place in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, which is considered a key swing district.

"Biggest thing I hear from like family members is the economy, that's number one," Pengov said. "Inflation has just kind of stolen anyone's savings that they've had or even, you know, sometimes it's even hard to buy groceries from week to week for some people. You know, that's just really the biggest issue."

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Fox News Digital spoke to GOP volunteers in Toledo, OH about the issues that matter most to them

"For sure the economy," Kelly, a Merrin volunteer who was born and raised in Toledo before moving to Arizona to escape "Democrat policies", told Fox News Digital. 

"Things like groceries, grocery prices, gas prices, housing, everything has gone up so much in the past few years and it's just really becoming unaffordable for everyone."

Kaptur, who is serving her 21st term in Congress, is one of eight Democrats running in 2024 in a district that voted for Trump in 2020 and many believe that this is her most vulnerable election yet after redistricting incorporated more Republican territory. 

Kelly told Fox News Digital she has "talked to a lot more people that are voting for Trump and they're voting Republican than are voting Democrat."

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Pengov told Fox News Digital that voters are frustrated that Washington is "giving all this money to Ukraine" when needs in the United States are going unaddressed.

"But then when it comes to having money for like our cities and Springfield, you know, it seems like we just use up our citizens and kick them to the curb and hire other people to come in for lower wages," Pengov said. "It just doesn't seem right what we're doing to our American citizens."

Toledo resident Patsy Grant also told Fox News Digital that the economy and immigration are at top of mind for voters in her district.

"The economy is not affordable and this immigration thing and people are dying," Grant said. "It's really bad and actually, the seniors are really having a hard time right now. And I have seen it first hand with my mom and my mom is struggling with medicine. It is unaffordable. At this point, she takes diabetes medications and it is outrageous and it's on the family if they can't afford it. So then it puts a burden on somebody else's financials."

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Republican Derek Merrin is running against Dem. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in Ohio's 9th Congressional District

"Talking to voters, we're getting a lot of people that are actually voting early, which is really awesome. That's what we encourage them to do. A lot of people are really worried about the economy, the majority's the economy and immigration, the border. I mean, it's just that everybody can't afford to live and are scared to live."

Grant, who has been making calls to voters at the Lucas County GOP Headquarters where she spoke to Fox News Digital, said she has called a "lot of people saying they're voting down the Republican ticket, including Donald Trump."

"They believe that he will bring change and end the war. I've had people talking about that, stating that Donald Trump is going to end that, that it wouldn't have happened had he been president and not Biden. So I really have a lot of people that are positive. And then you also get the ones that are negative. But some of the people you can talk to and encourage them to look at the facts and not just the ads that are on TV and bashing one another. We've gotten good reception."