Democrats challenging Ohio’s Republican-drawn state legislative map asked the Ohio Supreme Court this week to dismiss their own lawsuits, claiming that a newly passed map this year may be worse than the map currently in use.
Democrats submitted the lawsuits in 2021 contending that the current legislative map “unduly favors the Republican Party.”
If the state Supreme Court dismisses the cases it would mean that Ohio’s congressional map would remain in use until after the 2024 general election.
Last year, the Ohio Supreme Court denied maps produced by Ohio’s redistricting commission on numerous occasions.
The Ohio Supreme Court rejected the more recent of two congressional maps created by Republicans last July. Ohio used the earlier GOP-designed map for its 2022 primary and won’t use an updated one until 2024. The redistricting commission redraws the legislative and congressional maps every 10 years to reflect demographic changes following the U.S. Census.
Democrats have complained that they believe Ohio’s 15 U.S. House seats are too heavily weighted in favor of Republicans, and the state Supreme Court agreed with them. Ten of the seats are deemed secure holds for the GOP, while two of them are deemed safe holds for the Democrats. The remaining three seats are up for grabs. (Since Ohio’s population has not expanded at the same rate as the rest of America’s, the state will lose one of its 16 congressional districts.)
Republican state legislators appealed the state Supreme Court ruling on congressional redistricting to the U.S. Supreme Court in October.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a summary judgment, a decision made without listening to oral arguments, reversing the Ohio Supreme Court’s judgment from last July that the congressional districting process unfairly favored the Republican Party. The Court’s ruling means that the Ohio Redistricting Commission needs to draw new boundaries for next year’s legislative elections.
Last week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine officially called for the Ohio Redistricting Commission to reconvene to begin the process of drawing new state legislative maps on September 13th.
As previously reported by The Ohio Star, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said that the commission must approve its final legislative maps by September 22nd because any delay could potentially conflict with the statutory requirements of election administration if the Commission does not approve the final maps by the end of this month.
The Democrats said that although they believe Ohio’s current maps are too heavily weighted in favor of Republicans they worry that if the map is redrawn the Ohio Redistricting Commission will pass a new map that “gives their party an even greater advantage.”
According to Attorney Don McTigue, his clients in the lawsuits which include the National Democratic Redistricting Committee “strongly believe” that dismissing the lawsuits and keeping the current congressional map through 2024 “is the best result under the circumstances for the people of Ohio who deserve certainty about the congressional map that they will be voting under in this cycle, at the very least.”
The Ohio Star reached out to LaRose’s office for comment but did not receive a reply before press time.
The Ohio Constitution only enables maps passed with one-party support to endure for four years, thus if Ohio’s congressional districts are kept in place, they would still need to be redrawn after the 2024 election. Maps would have been in place for ten years if they had been approved last year with bipartisan backing.
Members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission include DeWine, LaRose, State Auditor Keith Faber, Senate Majority Whip Rob McColley (R-Napoleon), and House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington).
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star, The Star News Network, and The Tennessee Star. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ohio Supreme Court Building” by Sixflashphoto. CC BY-SA 4.0.
