COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Joint Committee on Congressional Redistricting is set to hold two hearings this week to weigh Ohio’s proposed new congressional district boundaries. 

What You Need To Know

  • The process of redrawing Ohio’s U.S. House seats is back in the hands of the General Assembly

  • Lawmakers will hold two hearings this week to consider map proposals

  • Republicans can redraw the maps without Democratic support, but a new process would only keep those seats in place for four years

  • Republican proposals would attempt to preserve a significant GOP advantage among Ohio’s congressional delegation

The hearings, which are required by statute, will be held Wednesday and Friday. The committees consist of six Ohio lawmakers — four Republicans and two Democrats.

Districts are required to be redrawn every 10 years due to changes in population. Because of changes to the population, Ohio will have its number of U.S. House seats reduced from 16 to 15. 

In recent days, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have released various proposals for U.S. House districts. The Princeton Gerrymander Project rates proposals for their partisan fairness, competitiveness and geographic features. 

The Democrats’ most recent proposed map got an A rating for partisan fairness and C grades for competitiveness and geographic features. According to Princeton researchers, the Democrats’ map would give Democrats and Republicans each six seats in their favor with three seats remaining competitive. 

The Republicans’ most recent proposal got an F for partisan fairness and C grades for competitiveness and geographic features. The Republicans’ proposal would see the GOP with nine seats in their advantage, two seats that would favor Democrats and four seats that could be competitive. 

Since districts were last redrawn in 2011, the state has adopted a new process for drawing congressional districts. That process would have included using a bipartisan panel made up of GOP and Democratic lawmakers along with the governor, secretary of state and auditor but that group opted to punt, kicking the process back to the General Assembly. 

Democrats claim the maps proposed by state Republicans would result in a 13-2 GOP advantage in the state. With Republicans five seats shy of a majority, Ohio’s 15 congressional seats could be the difference between the GOP taking back the U.S. House in 2022.

“Voters are dismayed by the brazen partisanship of the Republican maps released this week, which intentionally and unduly favor Republican candidates 13-2. That’s textbook gerrymandering,” said Assistant Minority Whip Rep. Richard D. Brown (D-Canal Winchester), one of the sponsors of the Democratic proposal.

The Republicans said their plans would keep cities like the three C's together while grouping their surrounding counties in with rural districts. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Whip Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said his caucus' plan is constitutional because Ohio's 11.7 million people are equally divided.

"This map truly balances 'one person, one vote' with 13 districts having exactly 786,630 people and two districts having 786,629. That is as close as we can get as possible to 'one person, one vote," said McColley.

Spectrum News 1 reporters Josh Rultenberg and Justin Boggs contributed to this report.

 

Related Stories