COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Democrats are taking inspiration from Texas as they gear up for their own congressional redistricting battle.
Democrats across the nation are showing solidarity with Texas lawmakers, ones who fled their state to block a Republican-proposed congressional map from being passed — a map that redrew several seats currently held by Democrats to make them more favorable for the GOP.
"What starts in Texas is going to go on to the next state and the next state," Ohio state Rep. Eric Synenberg (D-Beachwood) said.
Synenberg and several colleagues rallied outside the Massachusetts Statehouse with Texas and other states' Democrats on Wednesday, since he believes that Ohio is the next state to take on this fight.
"They're going to make the maps less fair, and therefore, an unproportionate and outsized number of Republican congressmen would have a better chance of winning their seats in 2026," Synenberg said.
The congressional mapmaking process is set to begin soon in Ohio, with Republicans like Vice President JD Vance and state party leader Tony Schroeder hoping to expand the slim GOP majority in the U.S. House.
"The control of the House is incredibly important, and it all starts with the speaker,: Schroeder said. "Having a larger margin there makes life a lot easier in terms of getting legislation through."
Republicans are eyeing three seats: Democratic U.S. Reps. Emilia Sykes of District 13 in Northeast Ohio, Marcy Kaptur of District 9 in Northwest and Greg Landsman of District 1 in Southwest.
RELATED: Ohio GOP eyes U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes’ seat as congressional redistricting begins
Although the state’s redistricting commission is controlled by GOP leaders, House Assistant Majority Floor Leader Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) said the national stage won’t play into Ohio’s mapmaking process.
"We're not looking for any specific outcome," Bird said. "We want to abide by the Ohio Constitution."
Unlike the special session that was held to change the district lines in Texas, Ohio is required by law to redraw the congressional districts for 2026, since the 2022 map wasn't agreed upon in a bipartisan manner.
Learn more about the Redistricting issues of 2022 and the attempt to change who is in charge of mapmaking in 2024, one that failed.
Also, different from Texas, Ohio Democrats are unable to block a vote by fleeing the state and preventing a quorum. Lawmakers get to draw maps first, but if there isn't a bipartisan agreement, the Republican controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission gets to do it.
State law already prevents Ohio from gerrymandering, Bird said, and Ohio has a majority of GOP districts because the map is proportional to statewide election results.
Currently, there are 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats representing Ohio in the U.S. House.
"When you look at the margin by which Mike DeWine won and the margin by which Donald Trump has won Ohio the last couple of times, they're significant," Bird said.
President Donald Trump beat former Vice President Kamala Harris 55%-44% in 2024 in Ohio. With that result, Ohio’s 15 congressional districts would be 8 Republican and 7 Democratic.
But U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno said he believes Ohio should be 12-3. That breakdown isn’t resonating with all GOP leaders, like Lt. Governor Jim Tressel.
"Is that a fair makeup of the state?" I asked Tressel on Thursday.
"Well, you know what? I can't really join into that conversation," Tressel responded. "If you would have asked me how many Republican, Democrat representatives we had, I wouldn't have had the answer to it."
"You're the lieutenant governor, don't you think you should know that?" I responded.
"I suppose I should. If I had to take a quiz on it, you just quizzed me, and I just learned — that's great," Tressel said. "The only thing that's fair is what the people vote for."
Democrats say it's encouraging that the Governor Mike DeWine-Tressel administration says they want the voters' voices to be heard.
"Even now with our 10-5, that's not fair," Synenberg said. "Anything on top of that would be, obviously, even worse and even less democratic."
By law, state legislators must have a congressional map by the end of November. Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman said in June that initial district drafting would begin in August.
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