This naked power grab shows Republican ruthlessness in full

The Great Ohio Gerrymandering Farce has lifted its curtain once again at the Ohio Statehouse odditorium of human wonders in scenic downtown Columbus.

Ohio politicians are once again pretending to be responsible stewards of the public interest and the Ohio Constitution, as though we all have amnesia and can’t remember what happened with Ohio gerrymandering in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Instead of abiding by the will of Ohio voters and ending gerrymandering, Ohio Republican politicians executed a blatant run-out-the-clock strategy defying court rulings and imposing unconstitutionally gerrymandered maps regardless.

Ohio Republican candidates have received an average of 56 percent support in the last 10 years of statewide elections, but after refusing to draw fair and constitutional maps Ohio Republican politicians control 66 percent of the state’s U.S. Congressional seats, 67 percent of the Ohio House, and 79 percent of the Ohio Senate.

To cap it off in 2024, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose shamelessly abused his position as chief elections officer on a citizens amendment proposing to kick politicians out of the redistricting process.

LaRose and Republicans on the Ohio Ballot Board wrote ballot language for the amendment — an amendment LaRose publicly opposed — claiming that the citizen-led anti-gerrymandering amendment would actually require gerrymandering.

That was a politician abusing the public trust to put his thumb on the scale of an amendment petitioned by more than 535,000 Ohio citizens.

As dirty as politics is, sticking your finger in the eye of more than 535,000 voters on a deeply serious and foundational question about elections and the Ohio Constitution is about as low as it gets.

Confused Ohio voters shot down the amendment and left Ohio politicians in charge of drawing political districts for themselves and their fellow politicians.

Ohio Republican Party Chair Alex Triantifilou has since openly admitted that the strategy to confuse Ohio voters helped defeat the amendment: “Confusion means we don’t know, so we did our job,” Triantafilou is quoted as saying.

Ohioans should remember that our state’s current U.S. House districts are unconstitutionally gerrymandered already, as they stand now.

They were drawn by Republicans in 2022 without bipartisan support to give Republicans 10 safe U.S. House seats out of 15.

A bipartisan majority on the Ohio Supreme Court in 2022 rejected the Republican-drawn U.S. Congressional district map as unconstitutionally gerrymandered two separate times.

That was the last time a court ruled on the U.S. House map that Ohio voters have been forced to use since.

In a state that Donald Trump won with 55 percent of the vote in 2024, and Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno won with 50 percent of the vote in 2024, Republicans control 66 percent of Ohio’s U.S. House districts.

Now Moreno is calling for them to increase that to 80 percent, or 12-3.

Other Republicans are calling for 13-2, which would be 87 percent Republican.

That would be cheating to steal 31 percent representation — stealing honest elections and representation from nearly 3.5 million Ohio residents.

Under the amendment to the Ohio Constitution passed by voters in 2018, politician were left in charge of the process for Congressional district mapmaking.

In 2024, politicians did their best to confuse voters, and Ohio voters once again decided to leave politicians in charge.

So now, under the same old process they abused last time, Ohio politicians will conduct another gerrymandering farce.

First the Statehouse lawmakers get a crack at drawing a map and must pass one with three-fifths of both chambers of the supermajority Republican legislature, including at least half of Democrats.

If lawmakers fail to do that by Sept. 30, the process is kicked over to the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which Republican politicians control 5-2: the governor, auditor, secretary of state, and four lawmakers, one from each party in the Ohio House and Ohio Senate.

If the Ohio Redistricting Commission fails to reach a bipartisan agreement on a map by Oct. 31, the process gets kicked back over to lawmakers, who then have until Nov. 30 to pass a map with a simple majority.

Remember, Republicans control gerrymandered supermajorities in both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate.

Will politicians keep Ohio gerrymandered 10-5? Will they gerrymander more, to 11-4, or to 12-3, or to 13-2?

Who knows?

The only thing I can guarantee you is that Ohio voters will not get fair, competitive maps.

Ohio politicians will continue to make sure their fellow politicians can not be held accountable to Ohio voters in November elections.

In 2026, Ohio voters will see a November election where out of 15 Ohio U.S. House races, maybe two will be competitive, if that.

And the vast majority of the politicians will just waltz back into office, campaign pockets stuffed with special interest money, never having to worry about Ohio voters at all.

• Ohio Capital Journal Editor-in-Chief and Opinion Columnist David DeWitt has been covering government, politics, and policy in Ohio since 2007, including education, health care, crime and the courts, poverty, state and local government, business, labor, energy, the environment, and social issues. He has worked for the National Journal, The New York Observer, and The Athens NEWS. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and is a board member of the E.W. Scripps Society of Alumni and Friends.