In May 2018, after Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved the state’s current process for redrawing congressional districts, the Republican and Democratic sponsors of the proposal declared it would stop gerrymandering and ensure bipartisan collaboration.
“Ohio has decided that partisan motivation will no longer determine the shape of congressional districts,” said the Democratic sponsor, then-state Sen. Vernon Sykes of Akron, in a victory statement along with Republican then-state Sen. Matt Huffman of Lima.
Seven years later, that expectation of bipartisan cooperation has all but vanished. Instead, Republicans will soon be able to ram through new maps to their liking for the second time in four years, whether Democrats like it or not.
Ohio’s current congressional districts were approved in 2021 without any Democratic votes and were put in place when Republicans ignored a (since-overturned) Ohio Supreme Court ruling that they were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.This fall, Ohio Republicans are expected to pass a new redistricting plan that is designed to help their party win 12, if not 13, of the state’s 15 U.S. House seats next year – up from the 10 seats the GOP currently holds.
So, what happened?
Huffman, through a spokeswoman, declined an interview request, and Sykes didn’t return a phone call seeking comment for this story. But Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as experts and activists involved with the 2018 redistricting amendment, offered several reasons why Ohio’s congressional process hasn’t delivered on what voters were promised seven years ago….