Ohio lawmakers will be drawing a new congressional maps this fall, not because they're choosing to but because they have to. State law requires the redraw for 2026 because the 2022 map wasn’t agreed upon with bipartisan support.
And as was the case in 2021 and 2023, Ohioans are being invited to submit their proposed maps to Republican leaders who will decide the final one, at a time when Republican leaders from the White House on down are several states to adopt maps to add to GOP seats in Congress ahead of the 2026 elections.
“We want Ohioans to participate," said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. "They can propose their own maps, or they can provide their own maps to the mapmakers about how they wanted their communities represented.”
Miller said citizen-produced maps during previous redistricting sessions were fairer, more compact, and made common sense. But Republican legislative leaders favored their own. Miller said she hopes that GOP lawmakers who worked to defeat a 2024 constitutional amendment last year to change Ohio's redistricting process will be more receptive to citizens' maps this time around.
"Representation works better when districts are drawn that keep communities together, that do not unnecessarily slice and dice neighborhoods and towns, and ultimately that leads to better representation where lawmakers have a group of constituents that more or less have similar economic and policy needs," Miller said.
Miller said her group will be holding an event later this month to draw attention to redistricting and maps.
Ohio's congressional map was approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission in March 2022, after a previous map was struck down as unconstitutional. Because the map didn't have Democratic support, a new one has to be drawn for 2026. The state's current congressional delegation is 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Some key Republicans including U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) have suggested drawing the map to turn two or three of those seats red.
A new congressional map must be adopted by the end of November. The process starts in the General Assembly, which must approve a map with a 3/5 vote in both chambers by Sept. 30. That vote must include at least half of the legislature's 42 Democrats. If they don't, the Ohio Redistricting Commission has until Oct. 31 to approve a map, with votes from both Democratic members of the seven-member panel. If that fails, lawmakers have until Nov. 30 to pass a map with a simple majority vote.
The legislature has not set dates yet for redistricting sessions. The filing deadline for candidates who want to run in the May 2026 primary is Feb. 4.
