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Statehouse News Bureau

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Senate president removes himself from Ohio Redistricting Commission as new maps deadline looms

By Karen Kasler

Published May 4, 2022 at 1:49 AM EDT

Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) presents a new Congressional district map, drawn by the Senate Republican Caucus. [Andy Chow / Statehouse News Bureau] — Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) presents a new Congressional district map, drawn by the Senate Republican Caucus.

There will be a new member of the Ohio Redistricting Commission for Wednesday's meeting, two days before a fifth attempt at legal House and Senate maps is due to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) was appointed by Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) to replace him on the seven-member Republican commission.

McColley helped create the 15-district Congressional map approved by Republican state lawmakers in November, which the Ohio Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutionally gerrymandered. A second congressional map was passed by Republicans on the commission, and is still under review. But voters in the May primary cast ballots for candidates in districts from that second, still-disputed map.

Huffman didn’t give a reason for the change, but Huffman and Cupp have been singled out by the court’s majority for controlling the process to maintain an advantage for Republicans.

If maps aren’t passed and upheld by the court by May 28, a federal court said it will implement a set of maps ruled unconstitutional in March.