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House OKs redistricting plan
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
The Ohio House OK’d a controversial congressional redistricting plan Thursday, sending the legislation to the Ohio Senate for its consideration.
The final vote was 56-36, with majority Republicans and several Democratic members of the black legislative caucus supporting the bill and minority Democrats and several GOP lawmakers opposed.
The vote followed a couple of hours of debate in which Republicans said the maps should be passed without delay to avoid the possibility of a federal court drawing the districts for Ohio.
“I’m here to say that unelected judges shouldn’t be drawing congressional districts ...,” said Rep. Matt Huffman, a Republican from Lima and primary sponsor of the redistricting bill. “If this was stretched out long enough and we didn’t draw this, that’s who would be picking these congressional districts.”
Democrats continued to say the maps represented partisan gerrymandering, drawn to ensure GOP victories over the next decade.
“Without question, this map places the interests of the Republican Party above the interests of Ohio citizens,” said Rep. Matt Szollosi, a Democrat from Toledo. “... This proposal goes well beyond political advantage. It’s punitive.”
Congressional-district lines are redrawn every decade to account for population changes noted in the decennial U.S. Census. State lawmakers control the districting process, with the Ohio House and Senate required to pass legislation setting new boundary lines.
Earlier this week, the House unveiled the new maps with16 proposed congressional districts, down from Ohio’s current 18 districts due to slow population growth in the state.
A dozen of the resulting districts appear to favor Republicans, while four others, including a new one covering much of the city of Columbus, would favor Democrats.
Democratic lawmakers in the Ohio House continued to urge the Republican-controlled chamber to allow more time for public hearings on the maps.
“Here’s an opportunity for us to show them, to teach them, the voters, that we can actually work together and figure our what’s going on ...,” said Rep. Bob Hagan, a Democrat from Youngstown.
Rep. Kathleen Clyde, a Democrat from Kent, called the process “a complete sham,” with the resulting maps packing Democrats and black voters into four of 16 districts.
But Huffman said the maps were drawn after an “exhaustive” process that included a series of public hearings around the state and three additional committee hearings at the Statehouse.
He said boundaries were drawn using area populations and other factors as required under the Constitution, law and past court decisions.
And he said the maps treated incumbent office holders equally, with three Republicans and three Democrats placed in overlapping territories and facing primary battles next year as a result.
Huffman added that Democrats did not offer any maps of their own for consideration in the process, though they were given funding to do so.
“Where is your map?” added Rep. Louis Blessing, a Republican from Cincinnati. “You were allocated money to produce it. ... You haven’t put anything forward.”
Three Democratic members of the black caucus, all from the Cleveland area, broke party ranks and supported the redistricting bill, which preserved a minority district currently represented by U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge.
Five Republicans broke ranks and voted against the maps, showing their opposition to districts that stretch across the state.