With the redistricting fight in Texas winding down, Republicans are already setting their sights on the next battleground in their nationwide push to secure more House seats ahead of next year’s midterms.
In Ohio, lawmakers are preparing to undertake a complex and lengthy redistricting process, required after Republicans passed the current map without any Democratic backing. If successful, the new plan could net the GOP as many as three additional House districts.
Although the map redraw was already scheduled, the stakes have been heightened by the broader wave of redistricting battles playing out across the country. “Ohio is moving right and red, rapidly,” Ohio Republican Party State Central Committeeman Tony Schroeder went on to say. “So I think that’s going to be reflected in the design of the new maps.”
But that doesn’t mean Democrats plan to simply stand aside. On the contrary, watching their counterparts in Texas leave the state to block a vote on a redrawn map has energized Ohio Democrats, who are now strategizing ways to mount their own pushback. “It’s a fight that we know how to fight, and it’s a fight that we’re ready to fight again,” Democratic state Rep. Tristan Rader said about the GOP redistricting effort.
POLITICO added: “But the Ohio lawmakers face more obstacles than the Texans to mounting an opposition to a GOP gerrymander. Ohio Republicans hold a supermajority in the state legislature, meaning Democrats lack enough members to deny quorum and the GOP can ultimately push through a map on partisan lines.”
State law requires lawmakers to secure a bipartisan supermajority to approve a congressional map, which would then remain in effect for a decade between censuses. If they fail, the responsibility shifts to a seven-member commission.
Should the commission’s proposal also fall short of winning sufficient Democratic support, the process returns to the legislature, where only a simple majority is needed for passage. This final scenario is widely seen as the most likely outcome — and under those rules, Republicans could potentially pick up three additional seats.
