COLUMBUS — With few changes, a Republican-dominated panel Wednesday adopted new maps for Ohio House and Senate districts that critics argued will lock in, if not strengthen, GOP control of the chambers for the next decade.
The map creates several districts in which two incumbent Democrats would have to do battle or in which a Republican and Democratic incumbent would compete in a district drawn to favor the Republican.
The map sets up a potential primary battle in 2012 between Rep. Matt Szollosi (D., Oregon), the second highest-ranking Democrat in the House, and Rep. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), a former state senator, in a new 46th District drawn to include both.
The final map passed by a 4-1 vote, with the sole Democrat on the Ohio Apportionment Board, House Minority Leader Armond Budish (D., Beachwood), casting the negative vote.
“The majority map was created in secret, no input from anyone but the majority,” he said. “Maps were rolled out. Here they are. Let’s vote, and we’re done.”
Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican who voted for the map as a board member, said he hopes the controversy over the drawing of this map and the congressional district map recently adopted by the General Assembly should serve as an impetus for adoption of a more bipartisan process.
While a state senator last session, Mr. Husted pushed a proposed constitutional amendment, but it and a competing proposal from Democrats died.
“To all the partisans on both sides, stop,” Mr. Husted said. “I know there’s frustration and anger that will be out there today from the minority, and I know with the majority there will be some doing end-zone dances. It has to stop.”
The Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting, which sponsored its own public competition for rival maps, predicted that 80 percent of the newly drawn districts are pre-ordained to elect a particular party with the real contests happening in primaries instead of the general election.
The campaign said 61 of the 99 districts in the Ohio House of Representatives are either strongly Republican or lean that way. Thirty-three are either strongly Democratic or lean that way. Five are considered to be even matches. The House is currently 59-40 Republican.
The map also does nothing to shake up the dominance of the Ohio Senate, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 23-10.
Toledo and its northern and eastern suburbs would continue to be represented in three strongly Democratic districts.
The central city-based 44th District, held by Rep. Michael Ashford (D., Toledo), would have a nearly 82 percent Democrat-performing index. The new Fedor-Szollosi 46th, a 57 percent Democrat-performing district, will stretch from the eastern Lucas suburbs through parts of East, South, and West Toledo to pick up Maumee, Holland, and Springfield Township to the west.
The new 44th District, in which no incumbent resides, would also be solidly Democrat with a nearly 63 percent index, according to the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting. The district includes portions of North, East, and West Toledo; Washington Township; and one Sylvania Township precinct surrounded by the city.
Mr. Szollosi or Ms. Fedor could sidestep an internal party fight in the 46th by moving into the new 45th.
Most of the western Lucas suburbs would remain in the new 47th District held by Rep. Barbara Sears (R., Monclova Township), but the district, a biennial target of Democrats, is likely to become less of a target now.
Picking up most of Fulton County, the district will now a nearly 58 percent Republican index.
The only change made to the map Wednesday that affected northwest Ohio involved the new 88th District, held by Rep. Rex Damschroder (R., Fremont). The change puts all of Seneca County — with the exception of New Riegel, Big Spring Township, and Loudon Township to the county’s southwest — in the 88th, restoring a lot of the same territory Mr. Damschroder now represents.
In exchange, the revised map moves Crawford County from Mr. Damschroder’s district back into the new 87th, held by Rep. Jeffrey McClain (R., Upper Sandusky). Mr. Damschroder’s new district now consists of all of Sandusky County and most of Seneca.
“I got together with Rep. McClain,” Mr. Damschroder said. “It was a little better district purely by numbers (in the original GOP map), but it was not best for voters. Part of the reason I voted against the redistricting of the congressional districts is that I like compact districts. The best representation you could provide is if you live as close as possible to your constituents.”
Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.
First Published September 28, 2011, 6:25 p.m.
