COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Donald Trump won't play a role in the Ohio redistricting process, according to House Speaker Matt Huffman, who said that he won't be pressured into giving the administration their desired maps.
Even though Ohio leaders just announced the Joint Committee on Congressional Redistricting on Wednesday, the process is already rocky.
"We're off to a bad start when the other side calls a press conference and says 'It has to be this or nothing else,'" Huffman (R-Lima) said.
The speaker and Ohio Republicans are disappointed in the Democrats, arguing that they are not playing fair because redistricting should be a bipartisan process.
The joint committee is supposed to start the process, drawing a map publicly. Each of the House and Senate leaders gets to appoint representatives, with four Republicans and two Democrats per chamber.
State Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) will be the co-chair and will be joined by Reps. Nick Santucci (R-Niles), Brian Stewart (R-Ashville), D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron), Desiree Tims (D-Dayton) and House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati).
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) chose state Sen. Jane Timken (R-Jackson Township) as co-chair, and she will be joined by Sens. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin), Willis E. Blackshear Jr. (D-Dayton) and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood).
"They didn't want the map drawn 'behind closed doors' is the metaphor — which was apparently what happened with the map yesterday," Huffman said.
Tuesday, Democrats introduced their version of a map.
RELATED: Democrats propose map reducing Ohio's GOP congressional seats. Republicans call it a 'fantasy.'
Currently, there are 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats representing Ohio in the U.S. House. President Donald Trump won Ohio 55-44% in 2024. With that result, Ohio’s 15 congressional districts would proportionately be eight Republican and seven Democratic. This proportionality was reflected in the Dems' map.
"The fairest redistricting proposal that either party has put forward," Antonio said Tuesday.
House Assistant Minority Leader Phil Robinson (D-Solon) said that their proposed map is bipartisan and made with input from Ohioans. They are also worried, since GOP leaders have already said they want a 12-3, or 13-2 Republican majority map.
"The Democratic caucus simply submitted, in public fashion, to the portal — a map," Robinson said. "It's not our map, it's the voters' map."
The joint committee has until the end of September to pass a bipartisan map, or else the Ohio Redistricting Commission takes over.
The ORC is made up of seven spots. Two will always go to Republicans and two to Democrats in the legislature. The three remaining seats include the governor, secretary of state and auditor.
The redistricting commission is controlled by the GOP, including Huffman.
"When it comes to mistakes that you've made or what you've learned about redistricting, what are you going to take into this year's process? What's your caucus going to take?" I asked Huffman.
"Well, I think that the specific thing... I think the number one thing is that: a lot of people want to talk about 12-3, 13-2 or 10-5, or exactly what it is — we have a process that the voters approved — follow the process." Huffman said.
He added additional challenges he had faced throughout the years, such as wanting to avoid lawsuits like in previous years, but said that people knew the current redistricting process better now than when it first passed in 2018.
"I think the main thing is: avoid ancillary side conversations that are designed to incite people in Ohio or throughout the United States, stick to the Constitution and make decisions based on that," the speaker said.
While Huffman promoted teamwork, Democrats were quick to point out how he was called out by the bipartisan Ohio Supreme Court in 2022 for being the ringleader in ignoring anti-gerrymandering laws.
Learn more about the Redistricting issues of 2022 and the attempt to change who is in charge of mapmaking in 2024, one that failed.
Huffman, who at that time of being reprimanded by the court, sat on the ORC, said Wednesday that he will be appointing someone else as the House representative on the commission.
Still, some Democrats are feeling cautiously optimistic, since Huffman added that he won’t be pressured by the White House's efforts to gain more seats in Congress. The Trump administration had advocated for this in other states, but most notably, Texas.
"I'm most interested in what residents of the state of Ohio have to say," Huffman said when asked about Trump and national influence. "Of course, the President of the United States is an important person too, but there are 11 million+ people in the state of Ohio."
Trump, the members of Congress and citizens all have a right to lobby about what they want, he said — but Ohioans are who he cares about.
"The state of Ohio is a sovereign entity... We make decisions about what is going on," he said.
The lawmakers will determine the maps, and if bipartisanship can be reached, the speaker continued.
"We have to have 50 votes to pass the map, and what I think are unreasonable demands aren't going to get passed," he said.
When pressed further about Trump, Huffman reiterated that any president of any party would like to have more members of their party in Congress.
"I don't think the president's going to call Matt Huffman and say, 'Here's what I want,' or anything like that..." the speaker said. "There are so many specifics to this and constitutional mandates that that's really what's going to guide us here."
The first redistricting meeting is set to take place Sept. 22. Huffman doesn't think it's possible to pass a bipartisan map by the Sept. 30 deadline; thus, the ORC would have to take over for the next part of the process.
Deadlines and process
Sept. 30: The lawmakers need to pass a map with at least 60% in each chamber with at least 50% support of Democrats.
If that fails, it goes to the ORC.
Oct. 31: To meet this deadline, at least four members of the ORC, including two Republicans and two Democrats, must approve.
If that fails, it goes back to the legislature.
Nov. 30: This map can also pass with just a simple majority, and the map must be replaced after six years.
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