Once again, Ohio starts the upcoming election year with a new congressional map. While it's projected to tip more toward the GOP than the previous map, which has resulted in 10 Republicans and five Democrats in Congress from Ohio, that may not be the result.
Unlike some other states that chose to redistrict at the urging of President Trump and Republicans, or to combat it, Ohio was required to redistrict because lawmakers couldn’t agree on a ten-year map in 2021.
In September, a Republican-led legislative committee met to come up with a new map. Democrats proposed one that would have likely yielded eight Republicans and seven Democrats. That was summarily rejected by Republicans, who failed to counter with a proposed map of their own. Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) said there was no rush.
“There is no constitutional deadline for passing a bipartisan congressional map. We can pass one at anytime over the next couple of months," Bird said at the time.
Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said Republicans were ignoring the constitutional process that dictates the legislative panel try to work to pass a bipartisan map and called this process "bullshit."
"They’re not going to care about what Democrats think. They are going to do what they want to because they have illegally gerrymandered statehouse districts, they have the super majority, and that’s why they are going to continue to get away with this because that’s what they want.," DeMora said.
The legislative committee ended September without a map. It was then up to the Ohio Redistricting Commission, also Republican-dominated. But for most of October, there wasn’t a map to consider. Then, with a few days left until the end of that month, the GOP members unveiled a map they brokered entirely behind closed doors.
New map came at nearly the last minute
The map that Republicans put forward to the Ohio Redistricting Commission on Oct. 29 would tilt districts currently represented by Democrats in Cincinnati and Toledo further right and Akron further left, giving U.S. Reps. Greg Landsman (OH-1) and Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) tougher races while easing off Emilia Sykes (OH-13).
The decision came down to whether the two Democrats on the commission would accept it. If they did, the process would stop and the map would be finalized, but if they didn’t, the Republican-dominated state legislature would pass it or one that was presented privately that was worse for Democrats, said Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood).
“Democratic representation in Ohio would have been decimated. And in the process, we fight for those who would have been left behind," Antonio told reporters. "Facing this impossible challenge with no certain path to preserve a fair map, we worked for compromise. But I understand and appreciate the anger we have heard from Ohioans today in this room, because you know what? I’m angry too."
Redistricting Commission co-chair Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said the map is fair since GOP candidates have won 19 out of 20 of the statewide elections during the past 15 years. And he said this map satisfies all of the constitutional mandates.
“Folks are always going to complain about a bizarre squiggle of a line here, but we’ve been doing that since 1790," Stewart told reporters after the map was approved on Oct. 30. "We are accounting for city lines, township lines, and so I think this map keeps communities of interest together. We have minimized the number of communities that are split. And I think that’s a good product.”
Map and process that created it will stay for a while
In spite of angry complaints from advocates who had pushed for a more evenly split map, there have been no legal challenges to it, so it will be in place until 2031.
Advocates have also wondered about a push that Gov. Mike DeWine said he would make if voters rejected last year's attempt to replace the Ohio Redistricting Commission with a panel of unelected people chosen to draw new maps. Before the vote in 2024 on Issue 1, DeWine said he wanted an independent commission like the one that draws maps in Iowa. But
“After we defeat this inherently flawed proposal, I will work with the General Assembly to introduce a resolution in the next session," DeWine said in July 2024. "We will vet that proposal. There will be hearings on it. We’ll hear from citizens on all sides and I hope then approve the resolution to place an initiative on the ballot for voters to approve the way the process should be.”
But when asked about that plan in September, DeWine said while he still wants to change the process, but “there’s not time to do that as you know. You couldn’t do that. There’s a clock ticking and they have to get something done.”
It’s thought that the 2026 midterms will be more friendly to Democrats nationally in an anti-Trump, anti-GOP wave. The question is whether that wave will keep the status quo at a 10-5 split, or if Republicans will continue to dominate as they have for decades.
