Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed into law a map of new congressional districts on Saturday that will be in effect for the next four years. The bill, approved by Republican state lawmakers, favors Republicans to win 12 out of Ohio’s 15 congressional districts.
The process of drawing up new congressional maps after the U.S. Census completes its once-a-decade population count has always been contentious. There is a lot at stake, after all: the way the districts are drawn can determine how many representatives Ohio Democrats and Republicans end up sending to the U.S. House of Representatives.
But redistricting in 2021 has been an especially wild ride as the COVID pandemic delayed Census results, lawmakers made their way through a new, multi-stage process approved by voters in 2018 and lawsuits challenging the maps Republican lawmakers have approved work their way through courts.
Critics of those maps say they're extremely tilted toward Republicans; though the GOP lawmakers responsible for the multiple drafts of the new maps stand behind them.
Joining Cincinnati Edition to explain the process behind redistricting and the controversy surrounding the ongoing process are University of Cincinnati Political Science Professor David Nivenand Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau reporter and producer Andy Chow.
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