Ohio Redistricting Plan Likely To Give GOP 12 Out Of 16 Seats, Create New Democratic District

WASHINGTON -- Under a new redistricting plan that will be unveiled by Ohio's GOP-controlled state legislature Tuesday afternoon, 12 of the state's 16 congressional districts are expected to become more favorable to Republicans, while currently serving Democrats may find their constituencies split up into multiple districts, according to reports about the plan.

Ohio currently has 18 U.S. House seats, 13 of which are held by Republicans. But because of the population losses recorded by the 2010 U.S. Census, the state will lose two congressional districts and the borders of the remaining districts will be redrawn. The new map will make many Republican districts safer for incumbents while forcing Democrats into tough reelection battles. The Ohio House of Representatives is expected to vote on the plan by the end of this week, and the state Senate will do so sometime next week.

While several Democrats could find themselves fighting with each other to stay in Congress, one new blue seat will likely be created. The map will create a district that combines Democratic areas of Franklin County, including parts of the capital city of Columbus.

A likely frontrunner in the race would be former congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy, a Democrat who lost reelection in the nearby 15th district in 2010. The district, now held by Republican Rep. Steve Stivers, currently includes the city of Columbus. Kilroy has also won two county-wide elections for Franklin County commissioner.

"One could say that the path to the U.S. Congress runs through Mary Jo Kilroy," said an Ohio Democratic insider.

Sources close to Kilroy told The Huffington Post the former congresswoman would be inclined to run if the district is drawn favorably.

Both Stivers and Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R) are expected to benefit from the redistricting, since Democratic areas that currently fall within their districts would become part of the new Democratic-leaning district instead.

The new map is also expected to combine the districts of Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur, who currently represents the 9th district, and Dennis Kucinich, who represents the 10th. If they both decided to run in the new district, they would face off in a primary.

Whether they decide to run again will, of course, hinge on how the two districts are merged and which member would retain the most constituents in the new district.

Kaptur is the most senior woman in the House and an outspoken critic of policies benefiting wealthy Americans and corporations. Kucinich is one of the most liberal members of Congress, frequently speaking out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and championing a single-payer health care system.

Kucinich has said he may consider running for Congress outside of Ohio -- possibly in Seattle -- if redistricting forces him out.

Rep. Betty Sutton (D), who represents the 13th district, will also likely face a match-up against Rep. Jim Renacci (R) of the 16th district, in a new district that's being drawn to favor Republicans. Her spokesman told The Cleveland Plain Dealer that she would be running for reelection regardless.

"While we haven't seen a map, Betty Sutton is running because the stakes are at an all-time high for the hard-working, middle-class people she has been fighting for and representing from Northeast Ohio," said spokesman Anthony DeAngelo. "She's prepared for whatever lies ahead."

Some Democrats have expressed concern over the rapid timeline set for approving the redistricting proposal. On Monday, state Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) wrote a letter to state Rep. Matt Huffman (R-Lima), chairman of the State Government and Elections Subcommittee on Redistricting, objecting to the way the process has unfolded.

"Redistricting is moving fast and, despite the pleas of the public that we all heard when we traveled the state for regional hearings, the map under consideration has not been released to the public nor to members of the State Government and Elections committee. Meanwhile, we have a possible vote scheduled for less than 48 hours from now," she wrote.

"We need to step back and take the time to do this right with bipartisan support for whatever plan the legislature adopts."

Comments

[dbrett480]

04:58 PM on 09/17/2011

That's not much of a change. Before the redistricting, the GOP had 13/18 (or over 72%). After the redistricting the GOP will have 12/16 (or 75%).

[dbobsnodgrass]

09:47 AM on 09/15/2011

Secret, it's not just Ohio;)

11/03/2010 GOP Makes Massive Gains At State Level: http://huff.to/9RiRYT via @huffingtonpost

Around this time, I recall baseball bats at concession speeches...

Is there a GOP? CNN has tea party debates.

Democrats need to chat with Beatrix Kiddo.

[BlueHorde]

08:35 PM on 09/14/2011

Wow, talk about Gerrymandering. The two most liberal members of Ohio's delegation - Marcy Kaptur of Toledo and Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland are now lumped together in a long snake of district hugging the shore of Lake Erie. Kaptur's house is at the extreme west end, and Kucinich's is at the extreme east end - the district is essentially a path between their home. The district is not even contiguous - the two halves of it are only connected across the waters of Sandusky Bay, and another section is connected only by a narrow beach corridor just several blocks wide. Toledo - perhaps the most blue city in Ohio goes from being in a single district, to now being divided into parts of three congressional districts - two of which are GOP majority and all three of which stretch nearly halfway across the state in order to keep a strong GOP majority in a state that is almost perfectly split between red and blue voters.

[JDZSB]

01:18 AM on 09/14/2011

In California, the voters took the redistricting away from the politicians and gave it to newly formed "redistricting councils" made up of supposedly independent representatives from the local population. The council was premised on the redistricting being done in a fair and balanced manner using new ground rules to avoid these gerrymandered and weird shaped voting districts. A simple majority vote of the councils in each of their areas of responsibility would approve the redistricting. The results in the heavily biased Democratic voting population in my area was a strengthening of the political power of the Democrats. The voters in California were looking to attempt to bring more balance in the voting districts in California, but it looks like it didn't work

[aFtersootdamP]

12:32 AM on 09/14/2011

Seattle is definitely far enoughh left for Kucinich. He could always run against obama in the primary too.

[justjp]

11:48 PM on 09/13/2011

Weprin just conceded

[lipps]

11:17 PM on 09/13/2011

I hope not; otherwise people wont be as aware of the loony left that occupy portions of the Socialist Dem party.

[jcross1]

09:10 PM on 09/13/2011

Kucinich won't "lose" his seat due to redistricting. If he loses it, it will be due to losing an election.

[Zip Zinzel]

09:10 PM on 09/13/2011

THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT REFORM WE "NEED" TO REFORM OUR DEMOCRACY

Shut down the political gerrymandering where politicians,
OF ANY STRIPE, are drawing up electoral districts for political advantage.

THIS ISSUE IS TOO IMPORTANT TO OUR DEMOCRACY, to be decided locally,
it must be a federal requirement.

ALL ELECTORAL DISTRICTS "MUST" be drawn up on a random basis by computers
I would propose that every 10 years, the computers start drawing up districts beginning at a different corner of the state- to ensure that all districts are re-drawn AND citizens have a new chance to break up the tyranny of incumbency

Currently some states have supposedly taken this process away from politicians and have passed it on to:
Panels of Judges, Independent-Commissions, & etc.
While those approaches, are improvements over having regular politicians doing the work-
Knowing how much is at stake, they will seldom be truly independent.

The current system of having politician’s draw up the electoral districts allows them to practically guarantee the party of representation.

I frequently see out here, people saying they are going down to their Representative's office to lodge a complaint.
I have to point out to them the unfortunate truth that,
Most Representatives are in districts so SAFE that they don't have to pay any attention to the concerns of citizens that aren't in their own party

THIS IS A NEW PHENOMENON, in the old days most politicians liked to get elected with 80% of the vote

[RealistBC]

09:06 PM on 09/13/2011

Of course it's Kucinich. The Dems were apparently going to let Weiner's seat go (Olbermann, 9/12/11) also. Wouldn't be bipartisan to save those most likely to oppose Republican "values"!

[JackTheSkipper]

08:27 PM on 09/13/2011

I am sorry but this shenanigan happens on both sides..

[doctor4kids]

08:56 PM on 09/13/2011

Yes it does. But that doesn't make it right.

[reepudsingh]

07:43 PM on 09/13/2011

Kucinich must enter the race for us!
Obama now looks like the Republicians he had campaigned against and adopted all of their policies.
Remember Obama's position on peace, spying on Americans, Guantanamo, regulating the banks,
the Cheney wars, the give away to Haliburton and other attack contractors, clean air, Freedom for Palestine, etc
Worst still, the Democrat hierarchy and media has given him a pass on these issues and are again distracted by his new camapign slogans and ploys. Kucinich is the only Democrat who has not withdrawn into his cocoon.

[Scalie]

07:36 PM on 09/13/2011

What a waste of campaign donations.

[doctor4kids]

07:32 PM on 09/13/2011

Congressman Kucinich is my Congressman and he has served our country and his district well. Like Ron Paul he's his own person. I've voted for Mr. Kucinich every time he's run for Congress because I know he's an honest man who's not beholden to special interests.
We'll miss you Dennis!

[judylbo46]

06:10 PM on 09/14/2011

Don't kiss him goodbye yet. I just watched the news. He has every intention of running again. He's my Congressman, also and he's been a good one. He actually responds to his constituents, something you rarely see in most public officials. Leave it to the republicans to ignore the needs of the middle class. They've just run us over again.

[thatgirl22]

07:21 PM on 09/13/2011

Betty Sutton, of the infamous C.A.R.S (Cars Allowance Rebate System) or (Cash for Clunkers) which led to a cost of nearly $3 billion, instead of the $1 billion the program initially called for, and a gain for Japanese & Korean automakers, & a loss for US automakers, while only improving the average fuel economy from of all vehicles purchased in July '09 to .06mpg, and in Aug '09 to .07. Yeah, I'll be very, very glad, when that waste of space loses her next election.