Ohio’s redistricting committee keeps it extremely tight
Has first meeting with Sept. 30 deadline looming
By SUSAN TEBBEN
Ohio Capital Journal
COLUMBUS — Ohio’s congressional redistricting committee heard from Ohio residents and Democratic leaders on Monday during its first meeting in the process of redrawing the state map. Republican leaders made it clear the first deadline of Sept. 30 to adopt a bipartisan map would not be met.
During the four-hour meeting of the Joint Committee on Congressional Redistricting, Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, defended the proposal introduced by House Democrats, with fellow legislators on the Ohio Senate side bringing forward its companion bill.
The proposals from Democrats, introduced Sept. 9, lay out eight Republican-leaning congressional districts and seven Democratic-leaning districts in a map they say is aligned with voter trends for the last 10 years.
Isaacsohn said the map meets the constitutional rules to keep districts compact and communities of interest together as much as possible, adding that it “forces competitive races, and it forces communities not to be taken for granted.”
He said he’s open to counter-proposals from the Republicans on the map, as long as the redistricting process leads to a constitutional map that gives Ohio the representation it deserves.
“When we have gerrymandering that unduly favors one party or another, it leads to policies that hurt most people, that are out of touch with where Ohioans are and what they need,” Isaacsohn said.
Committee co-chair Sen. Jane Timken, R-Jackson Twp., claimed the constitutional rule that a map can’t unduly favor one political party is in the “third silo” of the process, only coming into play if there is no bipartisan agreement.
Currently, Ohio’s congressional map has 10 Republican members of Congress and five Democrats. That map was passed without bipartisan support in March 2022, bringing the process back this year to activate maps for the next election cycle.
The Republican caucus hasn’t proposed a map yet. Timken said the legislative caucus is working on a proposal.
“Republicans will be following the constitution, and when we propose our map, I’m sure we will make it public,” Timken said.
But Timken doesn’t agree with the 55%-45% breakdown that Democrats and their map supporters used as a baseline for a “fair” map.
“I question their logic as to why it has to be 55-45, when clearly the voters of Ohio have strongly supported Republicans over the last decade, and so, in my opinion, I do not believe the 55-45 is accurate,” she told reporters after the meeting.
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Congressional maps often use the most recent presidential election as a guide, along with the last decade’s voting trends. In 2024, President Donald Trump won Ohio with 55% of the vote.
State Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, echoed Isaacsohn’s call for productive collaboration in creating “districts that mirror the political reality of our state,” saying he would be willing to change the political breakdown if it meant the fair representation was maintained.
“If (the maps) are 9-6 and they’re constitutionally fair, I know our caucus will consider those maps,” DeMora said.
The Columbus Democrat said he’s held “more than 20 meetings” in his office with constituents talking about redistricting.
Ohioans who spoke at the meeting supported the Democratic proposal, emphasizing the need for representation that is responsive to voters, something they feel more competitive districts and a transparent redistricting process can do.
“(We have) politicians who don’t answer the phone because they don’t need to,” said the Rev. Dr. Aileen Maddox, a Dayton resident. “Their seats are safe, not because we put them there, but because the lines were drawn to keep them there.”
Maddox told the committee fair districts would bring voices to policymaking that understand the issues that Dayton residents deal with, including people of color, immigrants and all other residents.
“We could elect leaders who come from our neighborhoods, who understand the pain of losing a child too soon, who know what it means to work two jobs and still struggle to afford a prescription, and the daily lives of the people who suffer from the multiplicity of the above,” Maddox said.
As supporters of the Democratic proposal spoke on the merits of the map, they also pointed the finger at Republicans for a lack of movement in proposing a map or holding hearings before Monday.
Sen. Willis Blackshear, Jr., D-Dayton, thanked Ohioans who attended the meeting, calling their attendance “a real testament to democracy.”
“We were only given two business days notice that this opportunity to testify would arise, so it makes it even more special to see so many folks here rising to the occasion,” Blackshear said.
The senator pushed for the committee to work hard to hit the deadline of Sept. 30 for legislative action and “respect the urgency that is required.”
“If voters didn’t want September action, there’d be no process,” Blackshear told the committee. “If voters and our fellows legislators hadn’t intended us to take real, meaningful bipartisan action in September, they wouldn’t have created a detailed process for us to do just that.”
Republican co-chair Rep. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, expressed doubts as to the discussion around the Sept. 30 deadline noted in state law as a final deadline for legislators.
“September 30th is in there, and yet, the constitution provides for a process if we don’t meet that,” Bird said. “And obviously we’re not, because we have ‘if needed’ sessions that have been determined to not be needed.”
Both Bird and Timken said the constitutional deadlines go through November, and they don’t feel rushed to make a decision before the end of the process.
“We can continue the process of gathering input from Ohioans, we can continue the process of negotiating with Democrats and we can pass a bipartisan map at any time in the next couple of months,” Bird said.
If the legislature doesn’t come to the 66% agreement in both chambers on a map by Sept. 30, the process moves to the Republican-majority led Ohio Redistricting Commission, who then have until Oct. 30 to come to a bipartisan decision.
If they don’t have the votes to do so, the Ohio General Assembly has another crack at it, with a deadline of Nov. 30.
The legislature would no longer have to have a bipartisan agreement at that time, only needing a simple majority to pass a map that would last for four years.
That simple majority agreement must come alongside a map that has certain other requirements.
The Republican committee chairs placed some of the blame on Democrats, who they said were resolute in their goal of a map with eight Republicans and seven Democrats.
“If an eight to seven map is the only one acceptable, then how are we going to get that done by September 30th,” Bird said. “It makes it very unlikely and it pushes the envelope to a potential November vote.”
The eight GOP members of the joint committee all questioned the Democratic map, with some accusing map-drawers and the legislators who are standing behind the map of pushing the map to deliberately give Democrats more seats.
“It seems to me it’s only gerrymandering if the Republicans win,” said state Rep. Brian Stewart.
Whether or not a map is adopted in September or in November, Blackshear said the renewed redistricting process should be treated as a model for the rest of the country in shirking political differences, and bringing together an effort that represents the people of Ohio.
“We can’t use (political power) as a bail-out to do what’s right for the people of Ohio, because the people of Ohio deserve fair representation,” Blackshear said.
No other hearings have been scheduled, but Timken said one more will be coming up.
She and Bird said it would occur next week, to give more of the public the chance to give input.