Toledo's Kaptur Gave Steel Lobbyist Power of Attorney, Report Finds

Toledo Rep. Marcy Kaptur once handed power of attorney over a Washington-area condo refinancing to Eileen Bradner, a longtime friend who spent 14 years as the top lobbyist for steel giant Nucor Corporation. The arrangement, dated August 2010 in Alexandria, Virginia, has resurfaced as Kaptur, 80, seeks a 23rd term representing Ohio's ninth district against Republican Derek Merrin in a race widely viewed as a toss-up.

The details come from a New York Post report by Josh Christenson, which found that a credit union suggested Kaptur have a power-of-attorney agent sign her refinancing documents because she could not return in person to complete them — she was in Ohio caring for a family member at the time. Bradner was named her attorney-in-fact for the transaction. A power of attorney of this kind does not grant legal benefits, ownership rights, equity in the property, or liability for the financial transaction, according to the same report.

Kaptur and Bradner's connection dates back decades, long before Bradner became one of Washington's most prominent trade lobbyists. Both women attended Little Flower Catholic Parish in Toledo during their youth, and Kaptur still attends the parish weekly, per the Post's reporting. Ben Kamens, a spokesperson quoted in the article, said the family friendship between Kaptur and Bradner — and Bradner's now-deceased parents — dates to their youth.

A Lobbyist's Career Built Alongside a Congressional One

Bradner earned her political science degree from the University of Toledo in 1980 and later worked as a legislative assistant managing trade policy for U.S. Sen. John Glenn from 1983 to 1988, according to an oral history Bradner recorded for Ohio State University Libraries. In that same recording, Bradner said she used her vacation time throughout her Washington career to return home and volunteer door-to-door and on phone banks for every one of Kaptur's congressional campaigns.

Bradner went on to work as a trade lobbyist at Wiley Rein LLP, with LegiStorm records placing her there from 1998 to 2009, before becoming senior director of federal government affairs at Nucor Corporation from August 2009 until her retirement from lobbying in 2023. She was Nucor's top lobbyist for that entire 14-year stretch. Nucor, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest steel producer in the United States and the largest scrap metal recycler in North America, and the company makes the vast majority of its steel domestically, according to the Post's report.

The financial ties between the two women run in both directions, per campaign finance records cited by the Post. Bradner donated $2,150 directly to Kaptur's campaigns between 2004 and 2018, while Nucor's political action committee contributed $38,400 to Kaptur's campaign between October 2008 and March 2026 — together amounting to nearly $40,000 flowing into Kaptur's principal campaign committee from Bradner and her firm's PAC. Kaptur kept photos of Kaptur in her office before retiring from lobbying, and Bradner and her daughter still visit northwest Ohio often, the report states.

Voting Record and Watchdog Concerns

A Post review found that Kaptur's votes or legislative co-sponsorships coincided with Bradner's lobbying position more than 30 times over roughly two decades. Kaptur voted in favor of the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee and Emergency Oil and Gas Guaranteed Loan Act of 1999, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, according to the report. She also voted against at least one bill Bradner opposed — the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004, which was intended to protect steelworkers' pension plans, after lobbying disclosures show Bradner opposed giving a pension contribution bailout to a few steel companies that year.

Caitlin Sutherland, quoted in the Post's report, said giving power of attorney to a major Washington, D.C., lobbyist is extremely bizarre. Kamens pushed back on that framing, saying Bradner's work with Nucor did not make her political support for Kaptur untoward. Bradner also attended official political events with Kaptur, including as her personal guest at the newly restructured National Prayer Breakfast in February 2023, according to a report from TYT.com — six months before Bradner's retirement from Nucor that August.

Steel Politics and House Ethics Rules

Kaptur has long positioned herself as a champion for U.S. steelmaking and a longstanding member of the bipartisan Congressional Steel Caucus, celebrating the steelmaking successes of NorthStar BlueScope Steel, ArcelorMittal, U.S. Steel, Cleveland-Cliffs, and Republic Steel. Her House office noted her caucus involvement in June 2024, when she joined 37 members opposing a change to Vietnam's trade status, and again in July 2026 congressional hearings with steel executives, according to a press release from Kaptur's House office.

House rules bar lawmakers from accepting campaign contributions in exchange for official actions, but federal law and House ethics guidelines allow lawmakers to accept accommodations or personal arrangements motivated by a bona fide family or personal relationship, according to guidance from the University of Michigan's federal relations office. That distinction sits at the center of how Kaptur's defenders and critics are each framing the decades of overlap between her legislative record and Bradner's lobbying career.

Kaptur, first elected during the 1982 recession, became the longest-serving woman in U.S. House history in March 2018 and the longest-serving woman in overall U.S. congressional history in January 2023, surpassing former Sen. Barbara Mikulski's 40-year tenure record, according to her own House office. She has also repeatedly pushed anti-corruption measures, including versions of the Ethics in Foreign Lobbying Act introduced between 1995 and 2016 and, more recently, her cosponsorship of the No Getting Rich in Congress Act in March 2026.

A District Already Under the Microscope

Ohio's ninth congressional district seat is listed as one of five Democratic toss-up seats by the Cook Political Report, and Kaptur only narrowly defeated Merrin by about 2,400 votes in November 2024 in a district redrawn to favor Republicans, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the GOP primary rematch. Merrin won the May 2026 Republican primary, setting up the general election showdown.

This is not the first controversy to touch Kaptur's campaign operation this year. In April, former campaign aide Courtney Hruska pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud after siphoning $22,865 from Kaptur's political account to pay off personal credit card debt, a case Hoodline covered in April. With the general election looming, the newly surfaced power-of-attorney arrangement and Bradner's decades of lobbying contributions add another layer of scrutiny to a campaign already fighting to hold one of the nation's most closely watched House seats.