Republicans and Democrats return to statehouse for first hearing on redistricting

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Lawmakers returned to the Ohio Statehouse Monday for the first public hearing on redrawing Ohio’s congressional maps.

They have to pass a new map this year and the goal is to reach a bipartisan decision before September 30th.

Ohio has 15 seats in the House of Representatives. Right now, ten are Republicans and five are Democrats.

But new maps must be drawn and both sides have different ideas of what a fair map means for Ohio.

So far, only Democrats have proposed a new map, with eight Republican-leaning districts and seven Democrat-leaning districts.

“The whole point of having fair representative government is that everyone gets to have their voice heard. That is what people in Ohio want. It’s not that complicated,” said Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati).

Republicans have not proposed a map draft yet, but they said the Democrats’ draft is not right for Ohio.

“We’re in the process of gathering. And you might note that Democrats did not gather public input before presenting a map to the public. And so we're here today gathering input from Ohioans,” said Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond).

The General Assembly is tasked with passing a new map with bipartisan support by September 30th.

Both sides said they don’t expect to get this done by the deadline.

Republicans said they are following the process, but Democrats said they are intentionally delaying this process.

“We’re challenged to pass a bipartisan map by the end of September. Obviously, that's not going to happen. But that doesn't mean we're not going to continue to work, talk, listen to Ohioans, work with the Democrat Party,” said Rep. Bird.

“That's the whole scheme is to keep delaying and delaying delaying until eventually by November 30th, they have to pass a map with no Democratic support,” said Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus).

Both sides said they don’t want to see gerrymandering in Ohio, and they do want to work together to come up with what’s best for the state.

“We introduced a map that we believe is fair,” said Rep. Isaacsohn. “But again, we would welcome a map, and I would love to see it from the majority that they believe is also constitutionally compliant. And then we can go from there.”

“We can continue the process of gathering input from Ohioans. We can continue the process of negotiating with Democrats, and we can pass a bipartisan map at any time in the next couple of months,” said Rep. Bird.

If a new map isn’t passed by the end of September, the responsibility will fall to the Ohio Redistricting Commission.

Republicans said there will be another public hearing on the issue before the deadline.