Rep. Brownlee: Approved Redistricting Map Prevents Trump from Stealing More Congressional Seats

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Karen Brownlee (D-Symmes Twp) today released the following statement concerning Friday’s meeting of the Ohio Redistricting Commission where a negotiated congressional map was approved that ensures current Democratic seats remain competitive races: 

“Common sense shows that supermajorities and unfair districts are bad for democracy,” said Rep. Brownlee. “Ohio Democrats fought for the best possible plan and resisted pressure from President Trump to take all the seats. The map is far from perfect, but it ensures current democratic seats remain competitive races.”

The map approved Friday can be viewed here. During the two-months long redistricting process, Ohio Republicans threatened to follow President Donald Trump's orders and grossly gerrymander Ohio maps further by eliminating three Democratic seats and taking the current map of ten Republicans and five Democrats to a grossly misrepresentative 13-2 map without a single competitive district. Democratic leaders in Ohio were steadfast to prevent that undemocratic power grab from happening.

 A few additional key points on the negotiated map: 

• Former Vice President Kamala Harris won Representative Sykes’ redrawn district in 2024;
• Ohio House Democrats calculate that Representative Kaptur would have won her redrawn district by six points in the 2022 cycle;
• Former President Joe Biden and former Senator Sherrod Brown both won in Representative Landsman’s redrawn district.