How Republicans Keep Control Despite The Voters
Naked, partisan gerrymandering has been declared just dandy by Leonard Leo’s nakedly partisan Supreme Court. In 2019 (Rucho v Common Cause), in another coup de grâce aimed at democracy, the Court agreed that partisan gerrymandering is “incompatible with democratic principles,” but it is outside of the jurisdiction of federal courts. GOP hack John Roberts suggested that the solution should come through state courts, state laws, or constitutional amendments, effectively allowing partisan gerrymandering to continue unless states themselves take action, such as passing independent redistricting reforms or state court decisions striking down egregious maps based on state constitutions. For example, some states, including North Carolina and Pennsylvania, have successfully used state constitutional provisions to challenge gerrymandering in state courts. In North Carolina— as in Florida— however, the GOP replaced normal state Supreme Court judges with raging fascists and overturned rulings against gerrymandering.
In Florida, voters approved the Fair Districts Amendments in 2010, which were aimed at creating fairer legislative and congressional districts. The amendments required districts to be compact, contiguous, and not drawn to favor any political party or incumbent. While these amendments led to redistricting changes, the state GOP has thumbed its nose at the will of the voters— and gotten away with it, drawing not just partisan districts but racist ones as well, which even the Roberts court says is a no-no… apparently except in Florida.
In Ohio, voters passed modest reforms in 2015 (for state legislative districts) and 2018 (for congressional districts) to address gerrymandering. These initiatives were meant to reduce partisan bias by requiring bipartisan support for new maps and emphasizing compact and community-based districts. Of course, the redistricting process has been mired in conflict. The state Supreme Court has rejected several maps drawn by the Republican-controlled redistricting commission for being overly partisan, but due to delays, gerrymandered maps have still been used in recent elections.
In state after state, when voters have supported anti-gerrymandering efforts, the Republican Party has used raw naked power to thwart implementation… and gotten away with it.
Writing for The Nation, Zurie Pope noted that Ohio voters have another shot at the apple next month. “A proposed constitutional amendment on Ohio’s 2024 ballot,” she wrote, “would permanently change how congressional districts in the state are drawn. The proposal, titled Issue 1, would create a 15-member Citizens Redistricting Commission— made up of Democrats, Republicans, and independents— to draw district maps. Current and former politicians, political party officials, and lobbyists would be banned from sitting on the commission, and attempts to draw districts in a way that favor one political party or lawmaker would be made unconstitutional.”
She wrote that “Ohio is considered one of the ‘most gerrymandered states’ in the country, along with Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Research from the Brennan Center found that 9 million Ohioans— around 77 percent of the state’s population— live in districts where the election for state representative lacks electoral competition. Of those, half featured no primary contest. Redistricting maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission have been declared unconstitutional— and rejected— by the state Supreme Court on several occasions. Issue 1 was submitted to the secretary of state’s office with over 700,000 signatures— almost 60 percent more than required to get on the state ballot— after receiving support from Citizens Not Politicians, the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women voters, and labor organizations like AFSCME and the SEIU.”
The Ohio GOP, which controls the statehouse, the state Supreme Court, and the governor’s office, opposes the amendment. In March, the press secretary of the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus called it an “exceedingly complex, harebrained, and radical scheme” that would “install a citizen’s commission to replace your elected representative.” Governor Mike DeWine claimed that the proposal would actually make gerrymandering worse. “If this amendment were to be adopted, Ohio would actually end up with a system that mandates— that compels— map drawers to produce gerrymandered districts.”
The proposed ballot language for Issue 1— crafted by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose and approved by the Ohio Ballot Board— outraged Citizens Not Politicians, arguing that the language painted the amendment in a negative light. The amendment, according to this language, would “create an appointed redistricting commission not elected by or subject to removal by the voters of the state,” “repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three quarters of Ohio electors,” and “establish a new taxpayer-funded commission of appointees required to gerrymander the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts.”
“The language was, in my opinion, the argument for why you should not vote for it,” Democratic state Senator Paula Hicks-Hudson, a member of the Ohio Ballot Board, told The Nation. “The language did not meet the constitutional standard.” Hicks-Hudson and fellow Democratic board member House Representative Terrence Upchurch voted against the language, and eventually submitted a brief to the Ohio Supreme Court renouncing it. “We received the language the day of the meeting,” Senator Hicks-Hudson said, adding that “there was no give and take,” between her, Upchurch, and the majority-Republican members of the board. “The ballot board is just one victim of the gerrymandering in the state of Ohio.”
Despite these concerns, the Ohio Supreme Court approved the language with only minor revisions. “I don’t agree with their decision,” said Senator Hicks-Hudson, but she ultimately hopes “that the people who believe Citizens Not Politicians is a good thing for this state will go out and educate themselves, as well as others, about the value of a new way of drawing these maps.”
As Republicans pass bills restricting abortion and gender-affirming care, many in Ohio see Issue 1 as the only way to combat the state’s increasing turn toward extremism. “The extreme politics being brought to the statehouse are a direct result of gerrymandering,” said CJ Wilson, a 22-year-old regional organizer with Common Cause Ohio. “If you’re not worrying about losing in the election anymore, you can kind of do whatever you want.”
By manipulating the ballot language to make it seem dangerous and radical, Republicans are using their control over the Ohio Ballot Board and state Supreme Court to sway voters against the initiative. This strategy has been employed to maintain the partisan advantage gained from gerrymandered maps, which allows politicians to pursue extreme policies, such as abortion bans and restrictions on gender-affirming care, without fearing electoral backlash. Ohio’s glaring lack of electoral competition fuels extremism in the statehouse.
The Ohio Democratic Party is moribund and useless outside of a few tiny blue ghettos. It’s been years since the party has given the GOP a run for its money, leaving the state— where Obama won in 2008— with a 51.5% to 46.9% victory— with a state House that has just 32 Democrats to the 67 Republicans and a state Senate with just 7 Dems to the GOP’s 26. Obama won county after county where Democrats don’t even try any longer: Ashtabula, Belmont, Erie, Jefferson, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Ottawa, Portage, Sandusky, Stark, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Wood.
Right now, with no support from the Ohio Democratic Party, progressive Democrat Jerrad Christian is very much trying in Tuscarawas, as well as in counties both Obama and Biden lost but where he feels he can win— like Delaware, Licking. Watch this video shot at a “debate” hosted by the Business and Professional Women of Ohio last week in Zanesville, Troy Balderson’s hometown, in Muskingum County, where Obama lost with 45.2% and Biden lost with 29.6%. Christian showed up… Balderon didn’t. Please consider helping him run an effective final month and flip an under the radar red seat.
“Gerrymandering,” Christian told us today, “has allowed politicians like Troy Balderson to stay in office without serving the people of our home. The district lines were drawn to protect him, making it easy to ignore the needs of the entire community and vote against bills that could help working families. Troy originally had a differently drawn OH-12, but he's such an unpopular candidate that they had to redraw the map again because he kept almost losing. The great thing is, his failures are catching up to him, and people are noticing.
“Mathematically, he thinks he can hide from my campaign and his voters because he believes the maps will save him. Like Trump, he gains power when people stay uninformed. But my campaign is different. We are loud, and we’re spreading effective messaging in new ways to reach the people whose apathy has been amplified by gerrymandering. We are on track to have the largest voter turnout this region has ever seen— and it’s not for Troy. My goal is to remind people just how much they matter, and that their votes matter. They've tuned out because the system is rigged, but that’s exactly what lets people like Balderson keep ignoring our needs while doing what benefits him politically. I won’t let that continue. We are standing up to rubber-stamp puppets like Troy, who are willing to sell out their own communities to stay in power. Real change happens when people see the truth and demand better. I’m here to deliver that truth and make those demands— gerrymandering be damned.”
Comments