Ohio’s redistricting rules give majority Republicans two main options for how to redraw Ohio’s congressional map this year: Work with Democrats now or wait until November when they can pass something without them.
Republicans, who dominate both chambers of the Statehouse, are on the latter track after they allowed an initial legal deadline to lapse on Tuesday without introducing a map.
Lawmakers held a two-and-a-half-hour hearing on redistricting at the Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday. Like a similar meeting last week, majority Republicans used their time to grill a Democratic legislative leader over a longshot map Democrats introduced earlier in the month that likely would cause Republicans to lose a couple of congressional seats if it’s approved.
What Republicans didn’t discuss: their plans for redistricting.
State Rep. Adam Bird, a Republican co-leader of the special redistricting committee that met Tuesday, said there’s no map that he “knows of.” He also said Republicans haven’t discussed privately how many congressional districts they plan to try to pick up.
“It’s still early. We’ve got a lot of time, and this is part of the process,” Bird said.
Trump kick-starts national redistricting fight
President Donald Trump has pushed Republicans across the country to redraw lines to help the GOP pad its majority in the U.S. House. Ohio presents a prime opportunity. Republicans currently hold 10 of Ohio’s 15 congressional districts and could win at least a few more seats by redrawing competitive districts represented by Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo and Emilia Sykes of Akron.
Republicans have tried to blame Democrats for the reason they don’t have a map yet. During Tuesday’s meeting. Republicans said Democrats showed an unwillingness to negotiate by publicly staking out the position that Ohio’s map should favor Democrats.
Nickie Antonio, the top Democrat in the Ohio Senate, said Tuesday that Republicans haven’t exactly been forthcoming with ideas.
“We’ve been waiting for the knock at the door by the leadership of the majority,” Antonio said. “We presented our map. Where’s your map?”
Republicans also made clear they view the Sept. 30 deadline as nonbinding.
“We can agree to a bipartisan map at any time during October and November,” Bird said.
What happens now?
Under Ohio’s redistricting rules, the Ohio Redistricting Commission now gets a crack at approving a new congressional map. The commission, a panel of five Republicans and two Democrats, has until Oct. 30 to do so.
But the commission only can approve a map if Democrats agree. If the commission doesn’t act this month, redistricting authority goes back to the legislature. But this time, Republicans don’t need to get Democratic votes. The map would remain in place until the 2032 elections.
Antonio told reporters Tuesday that Democrats plan to ask Gov. Mike DeWine to “get the redistricting process going.”
“That needs to happen as soon, as quickly as possible,” Antonio said.
History suggests that Republicans won’t act with urgency. When redistricting happened the last time under the current rules, Republicans didn’t even introduce a proposed map until mid-November, when they could pass it without Democratic help.
Why might Republicans bargain with Democrats?
Republicans have little reason to negotiate with Democrats at all.
But Democrats do have a couple potential hands to play.
For one, Republicans don’t have enough votes in the legislature to pass a map with an emergency clause attached. That means it will take 90 days for a map to take effect, which could pose administrative issues with a February legal deadline for candidates to file to run in the May primary election. Republicans could get an emergency clause, though, if they can peel off a couple of House Democratic votes.
An emergency clause also would prevent Democrats from trying to mount a referendum campaign to block the map from taking effect. That scenario, which would involve collecting hundreds of thousands of voter signatures, would be legally complicated but might give Democrats a chance to get the courts to draw a more favorable map.
