Ohio’s Republican and Democratic legislative leaders have agreed on a new congressional map that tilts decisively toward the GOP but stops short of the full-scale gerrymander Republicans could have passed on their own.
The map improves Republicans’ chances of flipping Ohio’s three most competitive congressional districts which all are held by Democrats. Currently, Republicans hold 10 Ohio congressional seats while Democrats hold five.
On balance, Democrats would be agreeing to the following:
- Concede the Republican-leaning 9th Congressional District represented by longtime U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur
- Give Republicans a much better chance of winning the safely Democratic 1st Congressional District represented by Cincinnati U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman
- Preserve their chances of holding the competitive 13th District held by Akron U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes
Under the proposed map, a plausible good electoral outcome for Democrats would mean Republicans hold 11 congressional districts and Democrats four, with Kaptur’s district even harder to hold than it is now.
Republicans, meanwhile, could position themselves to win as many as 12 of Ohio’s 15 seats. The deal would also block Democrats from pursuing a statewide referendum that might otherwise keep the current map in place through 2026.
The new map definitely benefits Republicans, but still stops short of a go-for-broke approach the party has taken nationally under pressure from President Donald Trump and his allies.
The general outline of the new map was described to Signal by a source familiar with the deal. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Ohio Redistricting Commission, a panel of elected officials, is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. today at the Statehouse and is expected to consider approving the map.
Today’s scheduled meeting comes ahead of a Friday legal deadline, after which Republicans would no longer would require Democratic votes but lose their ability to instantly block the repeal campaign.
D.J. Byrnes, a political blogger in Columbus, was first to report the bipartisan deal.
Map could be approved later today
The deal was reached this week by Republican House Speaker Matt Huffman, Senate President Rob McColley and Democratic House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio.
A Twitter user who goes by the handle Ohio Politics Guru has posted an image of the map with corresponding voting data, which a source described as close to the final deal but not precisely accurate.
The four state legislative leaders control four of the seven seats on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, and could approve the map on their own. Also sitting on the commission are three additional Republicans: Gov. Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Auditor Keith Faber.
Huffman, McColley and Antonio all told reporters on Wednesday that a deal was getting close, which the Signal Statewide newsletter noted.
“I think there’s genuine, real discussions. And I think if that does end up coming to fruition, I hope people will write about how the system worked and not how the system failed,” Huffman said Wednesday morning.
Antonio, meanwhile, confirmed to reporters that negotiations grew much more productive this week.
“I do believe the possibility of [a deal] exists at this point to the level that I can have that information, not having a conversation with President Trump myself,” Antonio said Wednesday afternoon.
If the map is finalized, it would resemble the compromise Democrats made with Republicans over state legislative district maps in 2023.
Signal has reached out to spokespeople for all four legislative leaders. Some have declined to comment while others haven’t responded.
Reported map deal draws immediate partisan backlash on social media
Details of the maps trickled out Wednesday night, drawing immediate backlash from both sides.
Trump has been unusually explicit in telling state legislators in Republican-controlled states to gerrymander their congressional maps to reduce Democrats’ chances of winning the House in the November 2026 election. Republicans have responded by pushing to approve pro-Republican maps in Texas, Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana.
Pro-Trump figures such as Jack Posobiec blasted the deal on X, calling it “a bad deal for Republicans.” GOP strategist Andy Surabian, an ally of Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr., reposted the comment.
“The Dems want this deal because it’s a bad deal for Republicans,” Posobiec said. “The GOP members should not do this deal and should instead let the legislature draw the map”
A source familiar with Ohio redistricting described the White House as angry over the bipartisan agreement.
“This map is great for Rob McColley and terrible for Donald Trump,” said the source, referencing the growing belief that McColley soon will launch a campaign for the 9th Congressional District. “It’s shocking.”
Democratic and progressive activists similar piled on to the deal. The dynamic is similar to the backlash Democrats who voted for the last bipartisan deal have seen over their votes in the last bipartisan redistricting deal. Earlier in redistricting negotiations, Democrats proposed an 8 Republican, seven Democrat map favored by activists. They said it most fairly represented Ohio’s status as a Republican-leaning, but not deep-red state.
David Pepper, a former Ohio Democratic Party chairman who lives in Cincinnati, called the proposed map an “egregious suppression of the Cincinnati electorate” in an X post on Wednesday night.
Katy Shanahan, a progressive redistricting activist, accused Democrats of “undermining our democracy.”
