Politics

Ohio's Senate Democrats have introduced an alternative congressional map to the Republican plan passed out of the state House last week.

The Democratic legislation contains a map drawn by GOP Illinois state Rep. Mike Fortner, who won a mapping contest sponsored by a coalition of voter advocacy groups.

A spokesman for the Ohio Senate Democrats says the map keeps 79 of Ohio's 88 counties in single U.S. House districts and creates 11 competitive districts out of 16, compared with two in the GOP map.

In this week’s edition of PoliticsOhio, Emily McCord speaks to Jessica Werhman. She’s a reporter for the Dayton Daily News and the Columbus Dispatch based in Washington D.C. Wehrman breaks down the redistricting map proposed by Republicans and discusses the implications on the Miami Valley.

The campaign defending Ohio's collective bargaining law plans to release a new ad on the health insurance
and pension contributions of public workers.

Building a Better Ohio says the TV spot begins airing statewide Friday in an effort to persuade voters to vote yes on Issue 2 in November to uphold the law.

The ad refers to "reasonable government reforms" that require public employees to pay at least 10 percent toward their pensions and at least 15 percent toward their health care coverage.

New U.S. House districts proposed by Ohio Republicans include one that stretches from Toledo to Cleveland, and a crescent touching parts of 13 counties from Appalachia to Amish country.

In the Miami Valley, Republicans Mike Turner and Steve Austria would both be in the new 10th state district.

Democrats lined up to criticize such boundary decisions Tuesday, as the eagerly-awaited map was described.