The Ohio Legislature is inching closer to its first deadline for Congressional redistricting, at the end of the month, and the majority caucus has mostly been mum.
But Democratic lawmakers, who hold superminorities in the Ohio House and Senate, unveiled their own redrawn map Tuesday morning. The map, according to analysis of historical voter data from 2016 through 2024, would feature eight districts that lean red and seven districts that lean blue in an evenly-matched year.
Three of those redrawn districts鈥攊n Cuyahoga, Lucas, and Summit Counties鈥攋ust narrowly give Democrats an edge.
鈥淭here will be some years where the party that is in power is unpopular, and they鈥檒l lose some seats,鈥� House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) said in an interview Tuesday. 鈥淭here will be some years where the reverse happens. We should have (a map) that provides for that possibility and gives voters a real voice.鈥�
Democrats argued Tuesday the redrawn map leaves 74 of 88 counties whole, only divides the rest of the counties once and follows the U.S. Constitution and Ohio Constitution as well as associated federal laws. Still, the map is unlikely to go anywhere, since Republicans maintain supermajorities in both chambers.
Spokespeople for the Ohio House and Ohio Senate GOP said Tuesday it is still 鈥渆arly鈥� in redistricting. In a statement to the Statehouse News Bureau, John Fortney, the Senate spokesperson, defended the existing Congressional districts鈥攊n which Ohio has 10 red seats and five blue seats.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) doesn鈥檛 have direct say over how Ohio redraws its districts. But Moreno last week defended the national mid-decade redistricting push that was put into motion by President Donald Trump. Moreno said he believes Democrats have 鈥済errymandered their states to the point of oblivion.鈥�
鈥淚f you look at the entirety of New England, there鈥檚 not a single Republican district in all of New England, in all of Delaware, all of New Mexico, all of Hawaii,鈥� Moreno said in an interview Thursday. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 insane.鈥�
Isaacsohn said he and his caucus are focused on Ohio.
鈥淏elieve it or not, Gov. Newsom and California Democrats don鈥檛 call me to ask for strategic advice,鈥� Isaacsohn said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 speak to what they are doing in California. I can speak to what we are doing here, which is why we have moved very quickly and in an intentional way.鈥�
The Ohio Constitution requires 60% of state lawmakers, which would have to include half of Democratic lawmakers, to pass a redistricting plan by Sept. 30.
If they fail to do that, the Ohio Redistricting Commission will take over. The commission would include seven politicians and skew heavily Republican, but any plan needs both Democrats on board by Oct. 31.
And if that fails, state lawmakers take over again, and face a final deadline of Nov. 30. That vote only needs to be more than 50% of lawmakers.
