Some Ohioans complain the Ohio Legislature doesn鈥檛 represent their interests or pass laws they support. Sen. Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Twp.) has a response and it may seem counterintuitive; there aren鈥檛 enough lawmakers.
Blessing said the 99 Ohio House and 33 Ohio Senate districts are too large to serve the diverse needs of their constituents. That鈥檚 the idea behind his proposed .
鈥淥hio has the fourth largest, in terms of population, Senate seats in the country. And what happens is, when the districts get larger and larger and larger, [legislators] tend to be more divorced from their own electorate,鈥� Blessing said in an interview. 鈥淲hen you have smaller seats, there's a whole host of studies that show that people are more satisfied with their elected leaders.鈥�
Blessing said he wants to increase the Senate from 33 to 51 districts and the House from 99 to 153. He said smaller, more proportional districts would encourage ordinary citizens to represent their communities.
鈥淚t really鈥攁nd this is a key point鈥攃uts down on the problem of money in politics,鈥� Blessing said. 鈥淣ow, when you have 50% more members of the General Assembly, there鈥檚 not going to suddenly be a 50% increase in spending. It dilutes the money that is spent in campaigns.鈥�
鈥淚f you look at other states that have smaller districts like this, the spending per district goes down significantly,鈥� Blessing added. 鈥淪o now you have the ability for people that aren't independently wealthy to be able to be elected.鈥�
Voters would have to change the state constitution to allow more members. But Blessing doesn鈥檛 think there鈥檚 support among his colleagues for putting the amendment on the ballot.
鈥淭here might be a sense that, 鈥榟ey, 1 out of 33 versus 1 out of 51, that's more competition for a chairmanship, that's more competition if I want to run for leadership, that's more competition for influence鈥�. And, you know, those are all true,鈥� Blessing said.
But Blessing thinks the change would level the playing field a bit. And he said it might take some time for lawmakers to get used to the idea.
鈥淚 think over time, they might see it as a worthy reform. But again, it's just not something that folks in Ohio have really had to deal with at any point,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ometimes ideas like this take time to sink in and percolate and gain momentum.鈥�
of Blessing鈥檚 resolution shows the question of whether to change the constitution and expand the legislature would be on the November 2026 ballot. If voters approve it, the expansion would begin with new district maps drawn in 2032 and new members seated in 2033.
