An upcoming vacancy in the 47th House District seat held by state Rep. Barbara Sears (R., Monclova Township) has unleashed a three-way contest on the Republican side.

Derek Merrin, former mayor of Waterville, has already grabbed a lot of high-profile endorsements. However, that hasn’t deterred Monclova Township Trustee Barbara Lang and former Sylvania Township Trustee Kevin Haddad from also tossing their hats into the ring.

State term limits dictate that Ms. Sears must step down at the end of 2016.

Derek Merrin

Mr. Merrin, 29, of Monclova Township, has amassed a list of endorsements from elected Republicans and party leaders, including Ms. Sears, state Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green), and former state Sen. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills).

The list includes Sandra Barber, the Republican chairman of Fulton County, which accounts for about half of the House district, but not Lucas County Republican Chairman Jon Stainbrook.

Mr. Merrin was elected to the Waterville village council in 2005. He was elected mayor in 2007, and did not seek re-election in 2011.

He worked four years as regional liaison under Republican Auditor of State David Yost and is now a Realtor and the owner of rental and real estate investment property.

Mr. Merrin attended Monclova Christian High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo and a master of public administration degree from Bowling Green State University.

He said Ohio “must support job creators by creating an attractive business climate so all Ohioans can prosper. As a former mayor and business owner I have the experience to ignite Ohio’s economy and to help local governments.”

He said he governed Waterville as a fiscal conservative during tough financial times, opposing tax increases.

As mayor in 2008, Mr. Merrin tried to enact an ordinance that would have restricted where registered sex offenders could live to certain areas of the city. The ordinance was voted down 6-1. Mr. Merrin cast the sole affirmative vote.

At the time, there was one registered sex offender living in Waterville, according to the website of the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office. One Waterville councilman who opposed the plan called it “a solution in search of a problem.”

He discovered that the Toledo Regional Transit Authority had used $66,685 of tax dollars to illegally fund its political action committee, which led to the state auditor ordering repayment of the money and passage of a law instituting a criminal penalty for using tax dollars for political purposes.

Mr. Merrin said he was focused on collecting petition signatures in time for the Dec. 16 filing deadline and was not ready to discuss his positions on issues.

Barbara Lang

Ms. Lang, 50, was elected trustee in 2003 and defeated in 2007. She was elected again in 2009 and 2013.

She is the development director for the Mercy St. Vincent Foundation. She graduated from Notre Dame Academy and Miami University with a bachelor’s degree in communications.

She said she has championed projects that expanded township parkland, improved road safety, and strengthened fire and safety services, and has been a volunteer at schools her children attended, Lial School and Central Catholic High School.

She declined to answer questions about policy, saying it’s too early in the campaign.

Ms. Lang recently wrote a letter to Gov. John Kasich urging clemency for Tom Noe, a former Lucas County Republican chairman who is serving an 18-year sentence for stealing $13.7 million from $50 million invested in rare-coin funds by the state Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

Kevin Haddad

Mr. Haddad, 60, is a professional hair stylist working as a commercial truck driver. 

He said he is running in order to reduce reliance on property taxes by school districts and the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority. He was elected to the Sylvania Township board of trustees in 2009 and defeated in 2013. Mr. Haddad ran unsuccessfully in 2014 for Lucas County commissioner.

The 47th House District includes all of Lucas County west of Toledo except for Springfield Township and Maumee. It includes all of Fulton County except for York and Swan Creek townships.

 The population leans Republican, having voted for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in 2012 by 54 to 44 percent. Lucas County accounts for 62,083 voters in the district, while Fulton County has 18,369 voters.

In her last run, Ms. Sears did not face a Democratic opponent, though she did have to defeat a Republican opponent from the Tea Party ranks in the 2014 primary, Scott Allegrini. Tea Party supporters were infuriated with Ms. Sears because she supported the Medicaid expansion implemented by Gov. John Kasich.

Mr. Stainbrook said the Lucas County GOP’s executive committee will consider endorsements after all the candidates have filed.

“The good news is that right now it looks like we have three very qualified and interested candidates running as Republicans for one office,” he said.

Ms. Sears said she knew Ms. Lang and Mr. Haddad were potential candidates when she made her decision to endorse, but decided to back Mr. Merrin because he started planning his run early, has a campaign structure in place, and has the experience as mayor of Waterville and in the auditor’s office to hit the ground running.

She acknowledged that he is conservative but said, “it’s a conservative district.”

Joshua Hughes, chairman of the Lucas County Democratic Party, said the party would accept applications to screen for the Democratic endorsement until Nov. 24, with screening to take place after Thanksgiving. 

He said the party’s screening committee will make a decision before the filing deadline, which is Dec. 16.

“We do not have an identified candidate yet, but we will,” he said.

The primary election is March 15 with the nominees to face off for the new two-year House term in the presidential election Nov. 8.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published November 13, 2015, 5:00 a.m.