COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is adamantly opposed to the anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment that will be on the November ballot, saying he plans to create another proposal that voters should "trust."
"This constitutional ballot issue, if passed, would result in districts that surprise and disappoint the voters who live in those very districts," the governor said in a news conference Wednesday morning.
He claims that the amendment proposed by the nonpartisan group Citizens Not Politicians, a coalition of about one hundred organizations ranging from unions to religious groups, plus an additional 70 business leaders with varying political beliefs, is going to create even more partisan map drawing.
"This ballot proposal will lead to much greater gerrymandering and will soon have to be replaced once again," the governor said.
CNP spokesperson Chris Davey isnt surprised that politicians like DeWine don’t want reform.
"It's not a Republican or a Democrat thing — it's politicians," Davey said. "Democrats and Republicans, they like gerrymandering because it keeps them in power."
But DeWine said it's about the language of the amendment. He tried to support his beliefs by showing a map from a citizen named "Kevin," who scored 100% proportionately by a nonpartisan redistricting website but had to divide up communities inside counties. He also showed a map that he said was gerrymandered by Democrats from the last redistricting process.
"We need to end this writing and rewriting of our Constitution, and we must defeat this misguided ballot initiative," he said.
The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office certified 535,005 signatures for the initiative despite only needing 413,487 to get on the ballot.
RELATED: Ohio advocates plan to hold lawmakers accountable with anti-gerrymandering reform
The Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) is made up of seven spots. Two will always go to Republicans and two to Democrats in the Statehouse. The three remaining seats include the governor, secretary of state and auditor.
Former Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, a Republican, is the face of CNP. She became the leader in the fight against gerrymandering in 2022 after she struck down seven GOP maps for unfairly benefiting Republicans.
"The disinformation from the Governor today is insulting to everyone in Ohio, and especially insulting to the half a million Ohioans — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — who put the Citizens Not Politicians Amendment on the November ballot," O'Connor said in a statement.
Her proposal creates the 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (OCRC), made up of Republican, Democratic and independent citizens who broadly represent the different geographic areas and demographics of the state.
It bans current or former politicians, political party officials, lobbyists and large political donors from sitting on the commission.
It requires fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor any political party or individual politician. It also mandates the commission to operate under an open and independent process.
This proposal is popular, raising $23 million, according to CNP's campaign finance report published Wednesday.
More than 750 small-dollar contributors donated less than $200 each, Davey said.
But DeWine argued that the focus on proportionality is a huge concern since that requires looking at prior statewide elections and figuring out what percentage each party got on average, and then drawing districts that align with those votes. He believes that having that one aspect be "king," will cause "extreme gerrymandering," he said.
Davey denied this.
"The criteria that he's outlining, those maps that he showed, are based on a false assumption about what the top priorities are in the Citizens Not Politicians amendment," he said. "The first criteria for the maps under the amendment would be that they'd be drawn by citizens so that they are geographically contiguous, that they comply with the constitution and that they comply with the Voting Rights Act."
DeWine's team argued against Davey's claim about priorities.
Anyway, the governor wants to follow Iowa's lead for redistricting instead.
Iowa
Iowa's system is ideal, according to DeWine.
"After we defeat this inherently flawed proposal, I will work with a General Assembly to introduce a resolution in the next session... Let's take politics out of this," he said.
Iowa requires that legislative and congressional maps be compact and contiguous and preserve political subdivisions.
The governor, however, neglected to address the fact that Iowa's system relies heavily on lawmakers. I brought this up to him.
"Can you explain to me how lawmakers wouldn't be involved in the Iowa process because — yes, it would start with LSC, but they are guided by a bipartisan commission and then those maps need to be approved by lawmakers," I asked him.
"That's what they do, we wouldn't have to do that," DeWine responded. "I'm not saying that everything Iowa is what we should do.... What I am saying is that the Iowa criteria makes it impossible for someone legally following the Constitution, to use partisan politics."
Iowa's system follows a hybrid model. It starts with a map drawing from their nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency, similar to Ohio's Legislative Services Commission (LSC), but it is guided and has input from their bipartisan redistricting commission. Then, the legislature can choose, deny or modify the said map.
"The success of this process depends on courtesy between legislators and a respect for democratic norms," according to researchers at Princeton University.
O'Connor addressed this.
"Gov. DeWine voted with his fellow politicians seven times for unconstitutional maps, and now says what Ohio really needs is what he calls ‘The Iowa Plan,’ a system where the Governor and other politicians get the final say on maps," O'Connor said.
Next steps
"It's a horrible proposal," DeWine said. "So whether [voters] trust me or don't trust me, I think they need — people will vote against it."
He said he "wouldn't rule out" requiring voters to go to the ballot in 2025 to vote to keep or scrap the newly enacted 2024 amendment and replace the independent commission with the Iowa system.
"You just said that if voters this redistricting reform in November, you may still put up another constitutional amendment. How is that not going against the will of the voters?" I asked.
"Look, look, I know you guys will remember what I said — and so what I'm not going to say is never, never, never would I ever do that — I'm not going to say that," DeWine said. "Well, what I hope happens is that we can defeat this in the fall; voters will look at this and say, 'This is not what we want.' We will have then the opportunity to go to the legislature, and I will push and I will do whatever I can to lead so that we end up with something that is better than what we have."
He wanted to put a competing amendment up in November but didn't think there was support in the House to get it passed, the governor said. He refused to elaborate on why he believed the House didn't want the amendment but referenced it possibly not having the votes.
“We have less than 100 days to unite and show voters why Issue 1 is bad for Ohio. I look forward to working with the Governor, the Senate, and the entire GOP Caucus to defeat Issue 1 in November," House Speaker Jason Stephens said in a statement. "Once Issue 1 is defeated, we will continue to work to ensure all Ohioans' voices are heard and represented.”
Responding to my post on X, House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) shamed DeWine.
"The Governor had seven times to show leadership and stop gerrymandering. He failed. Now, he wants to ignore demands for a citizen-led process that takes away the ability of politicians to manipulate their own maps," Russo wrote. "The 'Iowa Plan' he supports gives politicians final say. Politicians can completely ignore the commission's proposed maps if they choose to run out the clock on the process — like when DeWine and other GOP commissioners ignored seven Supreme Court rulings striking down their gerrymanders. What is most clear from this embarrassing press conference is that DeWine and other GOP politicians are scared silly of the full power of Ohio voters."
The Senate GOP, unsurprisingly, agreed with DeWine.
“The Governor is correct about proportionality, also known as 'representational fairness,' it is the textbook definition of gerrymandering. If you hated the 'Snake on the Lake,' the so-called citizens' campaign will bring it back in a big way. 'Political Outcomes Over People' is prepared to spend more than $15 million in out-of-state dark money for reliable, fixed, gerrymandered wins for the far left, at the expense of Ohio voters and the Ohio Constitution. It’s important to remember that the current system, approved by more than 70% of the voters, produced a unanimous bipartisan vote that approved maps for the General Assembly over the remainder of the decade. When D.C. special interests were rejected and Democrats were free to negotiate in good faith, the process worked well," Senate President Matt Huffman's spokesperson, John Fortney, said in a statement.
To combat Huffman, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) issued a statement condemning the governor.
"Removing politicians from Ohio’s redistricting process is our only path to ensure fair maps in the future. We are OHIO, not Iowa,” said Antonio. “The Governor’s proposal today appears to be another eleventh-hour attempt to subvert the will of the people and keep a stranglehold on the GOP artificial supermajority. I look forward to amplifying the voice of the people, not politicians, in my total support of Issue 1 in November.”
On whether the governor was catastrophizing, and if the independent commission would be fine, DeWine said no.
"No way in hell," the governor said.
O'Connor said this is a last-ditch effort to stop Ohioans from taking control back from the politicians.
"For nearly a year, we have been publicly collecting signatures in all 88 counties and now – 97 days before the election – he tells Ohioans that he and his friends in the legislature are already scheming to overturn what voters will pass in November," O'Connor said. "We’re done listening to self-serving politicians tell us how they want to keep rigging the game. On to November."
The former justice countered him.
"Since the Governor demonstrated in his rambling and disjointed press conference today that he does not understand our amendment, I am offering to sit down and meet with him to explain it," she said.
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