New congressional maps seem unlikely before Sept. 30 deadline

Ohio’s Joint Committee on Redistricting doesn’t appear likely to advance a bipartisan map before its Sept. 30 deadline.

The committee held its first meeting this week, and state lawmakers must pass a new congressional map with a three-fifths vote in both chambers of the legislature. According to Ohio Democrats, at least half of their members must agree to the map.

The committee is expected to meet again next week, hours before the end-of-the-month deadline.

“I would speak that we’re challenged to pass a bipartisan map by the end of September — obviously, that’s not going to happen, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to continue to work, talk, listen to Ohioans, work with the Democratic Party, and I think that we want to work with everyone,” Rep. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, cochairman of the committee, said, per News 5 Cleveland.

Should that in fact fail, which seems increasingly likely by the day, the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission has until the end of October to adopt a plan. Democrats and Republicans on the ORC must sign off on the map.

If the ORC does not adopt a map, state lawmakers must pass a map with a simple majority vote by the end of November. However, the map must not run afoul of the Ohio Constitution’s anti-gerrymandering provisions.

“There is no constitutional deadline for passing a bipartisan congressional map,” Bird said, per Statehouse News Bureau. “We can pass one at anytime over the next couple of months.”

Several Republicans asked by Ohio.News to comment on the process and possible next steps said they didn’t have any insight and couldn’t comment.

“We are seeing what happens when politicians are able to pick their voters, instead of the other way around,” Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, said in a statement this week. “We see cuts that close hospitals in our rural communities, cuts that drive healthcare premiums up by hundreds of dollars for families who can’t afford it, and cuts that leave our children hungry in school lunchrooms. Those are the costs of a government that doesn’t represent its people.”

Republicans currently hold 10 of the Buckeye State’s 15 U.S. House seats. Some within the party’s ranks have suggested that Republicans could seek to redistrict and create 12 districts that are favorable to their side.

Ohio Democrats introduced Senate Bill 259 and House Bill 442, their own version of a congressional map. Republicans are unlikely to go along with the Democrats’ suggested maps, which create districts that likely favor eight Republicans and seven Democrats.

Republicans said their liberal counterparts want maps that break down along a 55-45 split. However, Republicans don’t believe that accurately reflects the will of voters.

“In the relevant time period that we are to consider those partisan races, Republicans have won 22 out of the 23 races and Democrats have only won one,” state Sen. Jane Timken, R-Canton, said, Statehouse News Bureau reported. “So I question their logic of why it has to be 55%-45% when clearly the voters of Ohio have strongly supported Republicans over the last decade.”