Republican Scheme to Gerrymander Ohio in 2021
Over the weekend, a conservative-leaning think tank developed what they claim to be a legal congressional map based on the new criteria overwhelmingly passed by Ohio voters in 2018. You can see their proposal here that reduces the current 4 Democratic districts to just a measly 2 seats — that’s not fair. It’s clear that this is not a fair map and it does not live up to the spirit of the reforms. This right-wing map, for example, splits Hamilton County apart right down the middle without attempting to keep similar communities of interest together — instead relegating Hamilton County residents to another decade of being split apart from their neighbors. The map also includes many more county splits than are necessary (a common gerrymandering tactic used to crack apart communities). And, to add insult to injury, this map gives the GOP — who won just 52% of the vote share in congressional races in 2018 — a staggering 87% of the congressional seats. Our current congressional map is one of the most gerrymandered in the county, giving the GOP 75% of the seats. Any map that moves us further backwards in terms of representativeness is not fair and is not acceptable.
There is no way that Democrats would agree to this map, which would force the legislature to pass this as a partisan 4-year map. Democrats can have a strong seat at the table by breaking the GOP supermajority in the Ohio House. If Ohio House Republicans keep their supermajority, we will suffer another 10 years of the status quo: gerrymandered, broken maps that keep in place an unfair political system where politicians pick their voters — not the other way around, like it should be. Additionally, if we break the Republican supermajority in the Ohio House, we restore checks and balances to our state government. The Republican supermajority not only allows for a less fair and more partisan redistricting process, it allows GOP lawmakers to place issues on the ballot, override Gubernatorial vetoes, pass emergency legislation, and amend the constitution. With this power, Republicans have and will continue to force draconian measures on Ohioans that have restricted rights of individuals from healthcare, abortion access, environmental protection, and democracy. In the event the Governor, who is currently at war with his own party, vetoes the new districts bill for being too extreme, Democrats would be able to stop the legislature from overriding his veto if the supermajority is broken.
Plainly stated, a fair map must be representative of Ohio and it must be responsive to Ohio’s voters. This proposed map is neither. As part of the bipartisan redistricting reform measure, which Ohioans overwhelmingly supported in 2018, all future congressional maps must avoid unnecessarily cracking apart communities, paying particular attention to include at least one entire county into every district, where possible, and in respecting existing municipal and township boundaries. Districts must also be compact. These criteria will go a long way to curb some of the more egregious types of gerrymandering that exist under our current map. This proposed map does not meet those criteria. And while the new criteria provides crucially important safeguards against being able to gerrymander, there is still some wiggle room where gerrymanders could sneak through and it will take an incredible amount of effort and diligence to hold map drawers accountable to live up to the spirit of the redistricting reform measure. This is why we will need fair map advocates who are elected in November 2020 who will be good map drawers when the time comes in 2021.
It is clear that Republicans are prepared to continue their stranglehold of power. While this map may not be legal, it gives us a glimpse into their plans to do whatever it takes to maintain their supermajority control over Ohio. There is a real possibility that the majority party creates a gerrymandered map that looks a lot like this one and that disregards the intent of the measures passed by Ohio voters. That would mean another ten years of defunding public education, tax breaks for the rich, extremist abortion policy, lack of climate action, attacks on worker’s rights… the list goes on.
When we flip seats blue throughout Ohio this year, power will be restored where it belongs: to the people. And then in 2021, we can fight for the fair maps that Ohio deserves and bust the system where legislators are more beholden to special interests and party extremists than they are to their constituents.
We need to flip just two seats in November to break their supermajority. By helping Ohio House Democrats in 2020, you’re changing the narrative of Ohio politics at the state and federal level for the next decade.
In order to flip those seats, we will need the resources to win. For us to not only compete, but win, we need to ramp up our efforts exponentially. Though we were able to file with more cash-on-hand than the Republicans, the COVID-19 crisis is changing how we have to run our programs. Instead of knocking doors, we will have to reach voters through mail and digital. And the bottom line is that it will cost more money. We are poised to claim a major victory in November, but we won’t get over the finish line without raising the resources now. If you believe Ohio is truly a swing state, now more than ever, a contribution to the Ohio House Democratic Caucus is vital. This is a chance to change Ohio for years to come.
