Supporters hold signs for fair district maps at the Citizens Not Politicians rally, July 1, 2024, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.)
Ohio Democrats are taking inspiration from Texas as they gear up for their own congressional redistricting battle.
Democrats across the nation are showing solidarity with Texas lawmakers, ones who fled their state to block a Republican-proposed congressional map from being passed — a map that redrew several seats currently held by Democrats to make them more favorable for the GOP.
“What starts in Texas is going to go on to the next state and the next state,” Ohio state Rep. Eric Synenberg, D-Beachwood, said.
Synenberg and several colleagues rallied outside the Massachusetts Statehouse with Texas and other states’ Democrats on Wednesday, since he believes that Ohio is the next state to take on this fight.
“They’re going to make the maps less fair, and therefore, an unproportionate and outsized number of Republican congressmen would have a better chance of winning their seats in 2026,” Synenberg said.
The congressional mapmaking process is set to begin soon in Ohio, with Republicans like Vice President JD Vance and state party leader Tony Schroeder hoping to expand the slim GOP majority in the U.S. House.
“The control of the House is incredibly important, and it all starts with the speaker,” Schroeder said. “Having a larger margin there makes life a lot easier in terms of getting legislation through.”
Ohio Republicans are eyeing three seats: Democratic U.S. Reps. Emilia Sykes of District 13 in Northeast Ohio, Marcy Kaptur of District 9 in Northwest Ohio, and Greg Landsman of District 1 in Southwest Ohio.
Although the state’s redistricting commission is controlled by GOP leaders, House Assistant Majority Floor Leader Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, said the national stage won’t play into Ohio’s mapmaking process.
“We’re not looking for any specific outcome,” Bird said. “We want to abide by the Ohio Constitution.”
Unlike the special session that was held to change the district lines in Texas, Ohio is required by law to redraw the congressional districts for 2026, since the 2022 map wasn’t agreed upon with bipartisan support.
Also, different from Texas, Ohio Democrats are unable to block a vote by fleeing the state and preventing a quorum.
Lawmakers get to draw maps first, but if there isn’t a bipartisan agreement, the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission gets to do it.
State law already prevents Ohio from gerrymandering, Bird said, and said Ohio has a majority of GOP districts because, he claimed, the map is proportional to statewide election results.
Currently, there are 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats representing Ohio in the U.S. House. That’s 66% Republican.
“When you look at the margin by which Mike DeWine won and the margin by which Donald Trump has won Ohio the last couple of times, they’re significant,” Bird said.
President Donald Trump beat former Vice President Kamala Harris 55%-44% in 2024 in Ohio. With that result, Ohio’s 15 congressional districts would be 8 Republican and 7 Democratic.
But Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno said he believes Ohio should be 12-3. That would be 80% Republican.
That breakdown isn’t resonating with all GOP leaders, like Lt. Governor Jim Tressel.
We asked Tressel if that map make-up would be fair.
“Well, you know what? I can’t really join into that conversation,” Tressel responded. “If you would have asked me how many Republican, Democrat representatives we had, I wouldn’t have had the answer to it.”
Being lieutenant governor, Tressel was asked whether he thinks he should know the make-up of Ohio’s U.S. Congressional delegation.
“I suppose I should. If I had to take a quiz on it, you just quizzed me, and I just learned — that’s great,” Tressel said. “The only thing that’s fair is what the people vote for.”
Democrats say it’s encouraging that the Gov. Mike DeWine-Tressel administration says they want the voters’ voices to be heard.
“Even now with our 10-5, that’s not fair,” Synenberg said. “Anything on top of that would be, obviously, even worse and even less democratic.”
By law, state legislators must have a congressional map by the end of November.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman said in June that initial district drafting would begin in August.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on X and Facebook.
This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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