Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post

Legal challenge, including on state constitutional grounds, expected if Governor Mike DeWine signs the new map into law. Either way, “the map will only be in effect for four years, since fewer than one-third of legislative Democrats approved of it.” But in the meanwhile, this is what happened despite 2018 constitutional amendment aimed to end partisan gerrymandering. Republicans argue the tilt to their party is justified by the fact that they have won approximately 80% of state-wide races over the last 16 cycles.

Note: Article also includes Democratic and Republican voters’ views about the impact of gerrymandering on governance.

“Here in Cincinnati, where Black residents make up almost half of the population, state Republican officials drew a congressional map 10 years ago that sliced through the city, dividing urban neighborhoods into districts dominated by further flung, predominantly White areas.

A constitutional amendment approved by 75 percent of Ohio voters in 2018 was supposed to endthat partisan gerrymandering, requiring — among other changes —that cities like Cincinnati be left whole.

So when Republican state lawmakers released a map this week, they split Black voters another way: keeping all of Cincinnati together but combining it with distant, conservative White areas, and divvying up the remaining and diverse parts of Hamilton County between two other seats. The result: three districts in which Black Democratic voters are offset by White Republicans. Only one will probably be competitive.”