Republican congressional candidate Derek Merrin received $10,500 in campaign money attributed to the family of Blackstone’s chief executive and the head of another major AI infrastructure investment firm, according to a Federal Election Commission report filed Oct. 15. The money connects his campaign to investors financing multibillion-dollar data center projects, including a planned $10 billion complex in northwest Ohio.
Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chairman and CEO, gave Merrin $3,500 on Sept. 30. His wife, Christine Schwarzman, contributed another $3,500 the same day. Blackstone owns QTS Data Centers, which announced plans in May for a data center campus in Van Wert, Ohio, expected to involve approximately $10 billion in investment.
The same FEC filing attributes another $3,500 to Antonio Gracias, founder and CEO of Valor Equity Partners, on July 10. That money was allocated to Merrin through the Grow the Majority joint fundraising committee, rather than contributed directly to his campaign. Valor has financed data center construction and computing infrastructure for major artificial intelligence companies.
The contributions were reported as Merrin, the Republican challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, fought criticism of his record on data center subsidies. In an Oct. 7 interview with 13 Action News, Merrin accused Kaptur of telling “whoppers of a lies” about data centers and him. He voted in 2017 for legislation that expanded an existing Ohio tax exemption for data center operators.
The $7,000 from Blackstone’s chief executive and his wife
The Schwarzmans’ contributions arrived four months after QTS and the city of Van Wert announced their proposed campus. The company identified itself as a Blackstone portfolio company in the announcement, projected approximately $10 billion in investment and said the project would create about 200 permanent QTS positions, in addition to construction work.
Blackstone has a second major stake in Ohio’s data center expansion: the electricity infrastructure built to serve it. In July, energy company Williams announced a $5.34 billion investment agreement led by Blackstone, alongside Apollo and KKR, for five power generation projects serving rising demand, including from data centers. Four of the five projects are in Ohio. The three investment firms agreed to provide the capital in exchange for a 49% noncontrolling interest in the projects.
Schwarzman leads the firm that owns the developer of one of northwest Ohio’s largest proposed data center projects and is helping finance the power generation needed for the broader buildout. He and his wife each gave Merrin the $3,500 maximum permitted from an individual donor for one federal election.
Another $3,500 linked to AI infrastructure investments
Gracias’ contribution ties Merrin to another firm pursuing the rapidly expanding market for AI computing capacity. Valor identifies Gracias as its founder, chief executive and chief investment officer.
In January, Valor-managed funds arranged a $5.4 billion acquisition and lease of data center computing equipment, including Nvidia processors, to a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s xAI. Valor is also an investor in Crusoe, which builds large AI data centers. Crusoe said in September that Valor co-led a $3.9 billion financing round for the company.
The FEC lists Gracias’ $3,500 as an itemized allocation connected to a transfer from the Grow the Majority joint fundraising committee. It is one of three $3,500 entries that account for the $10,500 tied to the investors and the Blackstone executive’s family in Merrin’s newly filed report.
Merrin’s data center vote is on the record
Merrin’s legislative record on data center incentives predates these donations. On June 28, 2017, while serving in the Ohio House, he voted for House Bill 49, the state budget legislation that extended the time for operators of qualifying 2013 data center projects to meet capital investment requirements under Ohio’s existing sales and use tax exemption. The House passed the bill 59-40, and the state’s own legislative accounting describes the extension from five years to six.
The 2017 vote did not create Ohio’s data center tax break; it broadened the terms of an exemption already on the books. Merrin voted for that change. He now has campaign receipts from executives financing the industry benefiting from Ohio’s broader data center expansion.
Ohio has since confronted the staggering cost of its tax incentives for data centers. In May, Gov. Mike DeWine paused consideration of new exemptions after state figures showed nearly $1.6 billion in foregone sales tax revenue during 2025, far beyond earlier projections. The industry has become a central issue in northwest Ohio communities debating electricity demand, land use and the public cost of new infrastructure.
On Oct. 7, Merrin accused Kaptur of misrepresenting his data center record. Eight days later, his campaign filed the report listing $10,500 associated with the Blackstone chief executive’s family and the head of Valor Equity Partners. Voters will decide the race Nov. 3.
