Ohio Democrats pitch congressional map, GOP redistricting commissioners shrug
State Republican leaders call meeting, do nothing, adjourn
By Nick Evans
Ohio Capital Journal
COLUMBUS — About two dozen activists showed up to Tuesday’s meeting of the Ohio Redistricting Commission wearing purple t-shirts that said “where is the map?”
About half an hour later the commission adjourned, with little progress toward an answer.
The spectators jeered: “Shame,” “so much for the constitution,” “do your job,” and “represent us.”
Minority leaders Sen. Nickie Antonio and Rep. Dani Isaacsohn made an impassioned case for their map during the hearing. Antonio reminded commissioners the constitution’s use of “shall” means it’s their duty to approve a map, not just a suggestion. While both Democrats heaped praise on their proposal, they insisted they’re open to others.
“But we have yet to receive any alternative map or even substantive suggestion for alternatives to the proposal we have put forward,” Isaacsohn said.
The Democrats’ offer was a nonstarter with Republicans. Commission co-chair Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, insisted there would be another hearing as the constitution requires, but he made no commitment to show up with a counterproposal.
“I think if there’s a deal, you’ll see a map in this phase,” Stewart said. “But I don’t think that — I don’t know how much sense it makes to just put out a map that doesn’t have support on the commission to pass.”
For the commission to approve a map, it needs support from a majority of the commission’s seven members, with at least two votes from each of the political parties. If the commission fails to adopt a map, the process moves back to the General Assembly, where state lawmakers could then approve a redistricting plan by a simple majority.
Democrats’ map
Ohio’s current congressional delegation is split 10-5 between Republicans and Democrats. Antonio argued that’s because the map is a bit too generous to Republicans.
“We looked at the previous 10 years of statewide election results and recognized that, on average, Ohio has voted 45% of the time for Democrats, 55% for Republicans,” she said.
With those results as guideposts, Democrats crafted a map with “seven districts that lean slightly to the left and eight districts that lean slightly to the right,” according to Antonio.
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She noted their offer is more compact than the current map, minimizes county splits and keeps communities whole.
“By every measure,” she said, “our proposal is better than the map currently in effect.”
A map, she added, that Republicans approved over the objection of the state supreme court.
But even if the proposal tracks with recent statewide voter preferences, it’s not particularly surprising Republicans balked at the prospect of losing three congressional seats.
Under the Democratic proposal, three of those left-leaning seats are a toss-up, but one of those toss-ups is currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller. Another, held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur would move from slightly favoring Republicans to slightly favoring Democrats. Elsewhere, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey’s district, would become a comfortably Democratic district.
Antonio rejected the idea that Democrats were using the opportunity to do some gerrymandering of their own. Instead, she suggested Republicans oppose it “because it returns the power back to the people” and “better reflects” their voting patterns.
Isaacsohn was more explicit in his critique of the current congressional map.
“In a state where just over half the voters tend to vote Republican, having 11 out of 15 districts drawn to heavily favor one party is a gerrymandered map,” he said.
And Isaacsohn drew a straight line from Ohio’s map, which he sees as slanted in Republicans’ favor, and the current government shutdown.
“That is the only explanation,” he said, for members of Congress risking rural hospitals closing, or health care premiums spiking or SNAP payments declining.
“That is the cost of a government that is not representative through competitive elections,” he insisted.
Republicans respond
Speaking after the hearing, Gov. Mike DeWine was noncommittal about the likelihood of commissioners agreeing on a redistricting plan.
“There have been private discussions that are going on,” he said. “We hope that we get something done, but we don’t know yet.”
DeWine was brief when asked whether he thought commissioners would reach a deal by the Oct. 31 constitutional deadline.
“I don’t know,” DeWine said. “I really don’t know.”
Stewart, meanwhile, dismissed the argument that the commission must act on a map. Redistricting is a three-phase process, he said, going from the General Assembly, to the commission, and then back if officials can’t come to a bipartisan consensus.
“If I give you a menu and I say, you shall choose fish, you shall choose chicken, or you shall choose steak, choosing steak is not a failure to choose fish,” he said.
Stewart also tried to put the onus on Democrats to make a deal, despite the fact that the minority party is the only one to have released a proposal.
“I think the ball is kind of in the Democrats’ court to decide what deal they are or are not willing to take,” he said.
Stewart noted he hasn’t been involved in negotiations, but “you don’t have to squint” to make out the contours of an agreement.
Pressed further, he suggested the three most competitive districts — all currently represented by Democrats — are the ones Republicans want to talk about.
“I think that clearly the Toledo seat, the Akron seat, the Cincinnati seat, are probably the most hotly contested races generally,” he said. “I don’t think I’m giving away any secrets to political reporters, that those are probably the seats that are most discussed when we’re talking about whether there’s going to be a deal.”
This week, Punchbowl News reported U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has an eye on Ohio’s redistricting process. If Republicans run out the clock in the commission and then pass a map along party lines in the General Assembly, Jeffries has dangled the possibility of raising money for a referendum.
“You know, Democrats just did this,” Stewart said, referring to the 2024 redistricting reform ballot measure. “And Ohioans said no.”
“I think be careful what you ask for with a referendum in a state that Donald Trump won by 12 points,” he added.
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