Ohio has a new congressional map | On Friday, the 2025 chapter of Ohio’s years-long redistricting saga came to an abrupt end. The Ohio Redistricting Commission unanimously voted in favor of a map produced behind closed doors without the benefit of public input, and, barring legal remedy (a longshot), this is the map we will have until 2031.

You will hear partisan arguments about which party got the better deal with this map, but what cannot be disputed is that voters were denied any role in this process, a process that has given us a map even more gerrymandered than the last. Republican and Democratic voters feel like their party sold them out, and they're both right. 

This dismissal of public interest for the sake of partisan benefit is exactly why gerrymandering is such a cancer on our democracy, and nothing could have illustrated more clearly how unscrupulous and wrong it is to allow politicians to choose their own voters than watching how this map came to be in Ohio.

It is time to push for federal law that prohibits gerrymandering on a national level. Having a few states with independent redistricting commissions is like having a law mandating clean water in your part of the river while the rest of the people you share the river with have no rules and did whatever they wanted–everyone’s water gets polluted in the end. 

But for now, know that we will never stop fighting for fair representation for Ohioans. We will continue to fight any politician or party who seeks to serve their short-sighted political interests over the rights of every Ohioan to have quality, unbiased representation. Our resolve remains firm– we will not end our campaign for fair maps until all Ohioans have districts that uphold their Constitutional rights and a congressional delegation that truly serves them.  (See more detailed info below from Fair Districts.)

Last week was not a good one for fair maps and fair voting districts in Ohio. The Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) held hearings on October 30 and 31 – the last possible days for the Commission to pass a bipartisan map before the process would return to the General Assembly.

(If you prefer, you can read this long update online, HERE.)

After what must have been extensive secret negotiations, Rs and Ds on the Commission passed a bipartisan map unanimously on Friday the [October] 31st. What this means is that:

• This is the final US Congressional map for elections in 2026, 2028, and 2030. A new map will be drawn after the census in 2030 and redistricting in 2031.
• The map is 12-3 (12 Republican leaning seats and 3 Democratic) but there are a couple of districts where Democratic incumbents might be able to best Republican challengers.
• Because this map was passed by the Commission and not the General Assembly, we cannot gather signatures to mount a referendum challenge against it.

You can take a closer look at the map on Dave’s Redistricting app. Here are some quick notes about the map:

• Congressional District 15 (Mike Carey’s district) is sprawling and includes weirdly shaped parts of Franklin, Clark, and Miami Counties.
• Congressional District 13 is now solidly Democratic. On Nov. 2, Republican Kevin Coughlin withdrew from his race against Emilia Sykes.
• Congressional District 9 ( Marcy Kaptur’s district) is more solidly Republican.
• The map divides smaller cities such as Mansfield and Wooster.
• Congressional District 1 (Greg Landsman’s district) now scoops up sections of Hamilton County and adds Warren and Clinton Counties.
• The map scores so much lower on all the important measures such as compactness than maps created by citizen mapmakers
• It’s a classic and egregious gerrymander that harms every Ohioan
• Remember, fair maps are easier to draw!

It is fascinating but stomach-churning to read accounts about what was behind the bipartisan agreement and which party gained or lost more than expected. But no matter where you come down on whether or not this was a “good” or “bad” deal for Rs or Ds – the process used to create this map was totally unconstitutional.

The redistricting rules that became part of the Ohio Constitution after the successful 2018 ballot measure require transparency, meaningful public participation, and maps that deliver representational fairness to Ohio voters.

The map passed by the ORC last Friday didn’t follow any of those rules – and on that basis alone should be declared illegal and invalid. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks. The Ohio Supreme Court cannot be counted upon to uphold the law when it comes to requiring fair maps.

If all this sounds depressing, well, it is – at least for now. One thing you can say about redistricting advocates in Ohio: we don’t give up easily!  We are nothing if not determined to come back and fight another day for fair maps and fair voting districts.

Thank you to everyone who submitted and delivered testimony, showed up at the hearing, or watched on the Ohio Channel. The Commissioners may have ignored you, but we felt the power and determination of Ohio’s anti-gerrymandering advocates! An astonishing 185 pieces of testimony were submitted/delivered Thursday and Friday – access them all at the ORC website, HERE. Three pieces of testimony submitted by Fair Districts partners are noted below::

• Collin Marozzi, ACLU of Ohio
• Trevor Martin, LWV of Ohio
• Mia Lewis, Common Cause Ohio