OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
3:25 PM – Friday, October 31, 2025
Lawmakers in Ohio voted unanimously for a new congressional map that would give the GOP a slight boost ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
The state’s bipartisan redistricting commission approved the proposed map at a meeting on Friday morning.
According to the Associated Press, the Republicans hold 10 of the 15 seats in Ohio. The new map maintains these seats and also gives the GOP an edge in two blue districts.
Ohio’s Constitution requires an independent commission to redraw congressional maps every decade based on the U.S. Census. However, if a map is adopted by the commission without bipartisan support, it must be redrawn after four years.
The map drawn in 2021 did not have substantial support from Ohio Democrats, meaning that it had to be revisited this year, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. If they failed to agree on a map this time around by the October 31st deadline, it would have passed to the Republican-controlled state legislature.
Democrats accepted the proposed new congressional map in cooperation with Republicans, in part to avoid a far more extreme map that Republicans, via the legislature, were prepared to pass. Under the final deal, the new map gives Republicans the advantage in about 12 of the 15 seats. By using the commission rather than the legislature, they also avoided triggering a potential referendum challenge on the map.
Suzan DelBene, Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, responded that “this is not a fair map for Ohio voters,” while still crediting Democratic legislators for “negotiating to prevent an even more egregious gerrymander.”
“This compromise keeps us on the path to taking back the House Majority and we’ll continue to win across Ohio because voters know it’s House Democrats who are fighting for them,” DelBene said in a statement.
Governor Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) predicted that the map would give Republicans a 12‑3 advantage in the Buckeye State, stressing that the party should be satisfied with its deal with the Democrats.
“For Republicans who might not like this [outcome], I would simply say that this very well could be a 12-3 map. Those are pretty darn good numbers,” DeWine told reporters. “It resolves it, and I think lessens the chance that there might be a referendum that our side might lose.”
The new congressional map in Ohio could make re‑election more challenging for Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D‑Ohio) and Greg Landsman (D‑Ohio). Kaptur, who won her 2024 race by less than a percentage point, faces a particularly steep uphill battle.
Ohio’s redistricting follows a trend seen in states like Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas, where new maps have shifted districts to give Republicans a stronger advantage ahead of the midterm elections.
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