Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio introducing the Democratic redistricting plan. (Photo: Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Ohio Republicans still haven’t proposed a congressional map, and it’s a week past the constitutional deadline to adopt a bipartisan proposal.
The first meeting of the state’s redistricting commission ended with jeers from the public pleading with the Republican Party to “do their job.” Now Democrats in Washington are considering an appeal if they believe the submitted map has been manipulated.
Before the Ohio Redistricting Commission, Democratic leaders urged their colleagues to accept their proposed redistricting map or at least negotiate a joint proposal with them before the Oct. 31 deadline.
“We have always been open to good faith, honest negotiation and compromise, but this requires both sides to be there,” said ORC co-chair and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood.
ORC’s five Republicans and two Democrats are tasked with drawing 15 U.S. House districts. The group consists of two Republicans and two Democrats in the Statehouse. The three remaining seats include governor, secretary of state and auditor.
Ohio’s congressional districts currently consist of 10 Republicans and five Democrats.
On average over the past decade, Republicans have won 55% to 45% of the vote over Democrats in Ohio. Due to this division, Democrats proposed a map with eight red seats and seven blue seats.
Republicans still haven’t released their map, prompting dozens of citizens to wear T-shirts that say, “Where’s the map?”
After Antonio and House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn testified in support of their map, Republicans quickly adjourned the meeting.
“The ball is kind of in the Democrats’ court to decide what deal they want or don’t want to take,” said ORC co-chair Brian Stewart (R-Ashville). “You certainly don’t have to squint very hard to see what the outline of a deal might look like.”
GOP leaders have said they want at least 12 or 13 of the 15 districts to be GOP-leaning.
“I think Republicans in our caucus generally feel we could have a map with a few additional seats where Republicans could be competitive,” Stewart said.
Stewart confirmed that Democratic Reps. Emilia Sykes of Northeast Ohio’s 13th District, Marcy Kaptur of Northwest Ohio’s 9th District and Greg Landsman of Southwest Ohio’s 1st District are at risk.
However, it is unclear how the GOP wants to do this because it has not presented any proposals. Stewart was asked why the public wasn’t seeing any Republican projects or proposals.
“If there is a bill or a map that gets enough support to pass, it will be introduced and we will have a debate and look at it,” Stewart replied. “We’re not just going to show all of our notes publicly while you try to have discussions among legislative leaders about what they wouldn’t support.”
Democrats are frustrated, saying the GOP is intentionally slowing down the process.
“If October goes slowly, it will lead to November when a majority of Republicans can simply pass their own map with only their members voting on it,” Antonio said.
To meet the October deadline, at least four ORC members must agree, including two Republicans and two Democrats. They must also hold two public meetings if they intend to hand over the map. If that fails, the matter will go back to the Legislature.
Since November, Republicans have been able to pass the map with a basic majority vote, without needing Democratic support.
But just this weekend, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Antonio spoke on the phone about next steps, she added.
“They are considering every option and every opportunity to support a referendum, whatever it would look like,” Antonio said.
If lawmakers pass the map in November, voters could collectively organize a referendum on the ballot in an attempt to repeal the passed map and block its implementation. Ultimately, the referendum campaign would need to collect almost 250,000 signatures within 90 days of signing and submitting the bill.
“There is a lot of energy around a potential referendum,” Isaacsohn said. “I think people are excited about the prospect of getting access to the fair maps they deserve.”
The map, if adopted by the commission, is not subject to a referendum.
Stewart was asked whether any deal could be made to avoid a referendum.
“I think there are clearly advantages and disadvantages to all the different paths we take,” he replied. “When I say I’m optimistic that phase two may result in a map, it’s true.”
The next ORC meeting is expected to be held this month, but that has not been announced yet.
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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