user: Question: Which Republican ran against the American Labor candidate Matthew J. Merritt?
Columns: ['Office', 'Democratic ticket', 'Republican ticket', 'American Labor ticket', 'Socialist ticket']
Types: ['text', 'text', 'text', 'text', 'text']
Sample row: ['Governor', 'Herbert H. Lehman', 'Thomas E. Dewey', 'Herbert H. Lehman', 'Norman Thomas']
SQL:

assistant: SELECT "Republican ticket" FROM "Table" WHERE "American Labor ticket" = 'Matthew J. Merritt';