COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Republican party took home a win this midterm election by filling all three Ohio Supreme Court seats.
In December, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, an advocate of map redistricting reform, will be leaving office due to Ohio's age limit. With her gone, what will that mean for the future of redrawing the maps?
What You Need To Know
- New Ohio Supreme Court makeup favors Republicans
- Outgoing Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor previously ruled the state’s congressional redistricting map unconstitutional
- Political watchers concerned that congressional redistricting map will continue to favor Republicans
University of Cincinnati political science Professor David Niven said he’s in no way surprised with the results of the Ohio Supreme Court race. In this first election with the candidates being identified by party, Sharon Kennedy won the spot of Chief Justice while Justices Pat DeWine and Pat Fischer defeated Democrats in the other two races, securing a Republican majority.
“When Republicans are winning statewide, winning the the governor's race, the attorney general’s race, and all those state-wide races, it means they are very likely to win Supreme Court races and they did,” said Niven.
Kennedy takes the spot vacated by O’Connor, who drew criticism from state Republican leaders because she sided with Democrats in ruling the latest map unconstitutional.
“Governor Mike DeWine will have the opportunity to replace Justice Kennedy with the person of his choosing,” said Niven. “And of course the governor is going to choose someone who is inclined to reaffirm what the (redistricting) commission does.”
Niven said the court’s new lineup will keep Democrats at a disadvantage when it comes to redistricting.
“What we’ve seen in Ohio maps is a discount rate of roughly 10 to 15 percent where a Democrat votes for these offices is worth less than a Republican’s vote because of the way the voters are sorted,” he said.
Former State Senator Jeff Jacobson has been instrumental in negotiations regarding the redistricting law. Now he’s the executive director of RenewOhio, an organization defending the work done by the Ohio Redistricting Commission.
“It’s not that the maps were drawn badly or gerrymandered, it’s that they can’t win their fair share because there’s not enough Democrats who live near each other in big parts of the state. So you can’t draw Democratic districts,” said Jacobson.
Instead of redrawing new maps, he says Democrats need to work on having better representation across the state.
“The answer is do a better job of appealing to rural Ohio and don’t ask the state to redistrict by gerrymandering in your favor,” he said.
The court under O’Connor ordered new maps be drawn in time for the 2024 election. The Ohio Redistricting Commission will be the ones to create it.
“It’s highly likely that someone will someone will challenge the map,” said Niven. “It’s also then highly likely that the Ohio Supreme Court will either dismiss the challenge or rule in such a way that any map stands.”