Ahead of the 2026 midterms, red and blue states are looking to go through with redistricting. Ohio is included in the list of those gaining attention, and the state legislature must redraw those maps by Sept. 30. They’re hardly the only state looking to such a plan for next year.
After Vice President JD Vance raised concerns about California’s redistricting, calling the “gerrymander” there “outrageous,” Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., responded himself over X.
“Try again, dumb dumb,” Newsom posted in response to the vice president.
He then included a map of what claims to be the “Most Gerrymandered States 2025,” with Ohio included among them. Other states include Utah, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina. West Virginia, which is among the less populous states in the country, only has two congressmen, both of whom are Republicans. The state is also one of the most Republican states in the country.
There is no citation for the map in Newsom’s post. The key indicates that the states in green mean “yes.” The Daily Signal left the governor’s office a voicemail to ask about the map.
Other reactions to Vance’s post have pointed to Illinois, which is not included as one of the most gerrymandered districts in this map shared by Newsom.
Proposed Community Notes on X pointed out that Newsom retrieved such a map from World Population Review. It’s also outdated by a news cycle. A Newsweek article about that map is over a year old, from June 20, 2024.
Ohio’s 15 congressional districts include 10 Republicans and five Democrats and has become an increasingly red state in recent years. A note from World Population Review merely mentions that the Buckeye State “Unfairly distributed districts in a partisan way.”
Illinois and Maryland, bright blue states known for their gerrymandering, have even been profiled by The New York Times in last week’s piece addressing how “Democrats Have Few Tools to Counter G.O.P. Redistricting.”
Newsom has typically gone after Vance and other Republicans over social media, including states like Texas for their own plans for redistricting, and even the vice president and his family over their trip to Disneyland. Second Lady Usha Vance is from California.
As for Ohio’s redistricting map, it appears to be a priority for the state legislature when they return next month. A Friday morning report from the Ohio Journal Report outlined how the General Assembly will get the first chance and if the state legislature can’t come to the necessary three-fifths agreement to redraw maps, “the Ohio Redistricting Commission is reactivated to take over the process.”
With the present maps, Ohio looks to play a significant role in the 2026 midterms. Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes, who won reelection last year by 2.2 percentage points against Republican Kevin Coughlin, is seeking a rematch.
The Ohio Journal Report also highlighted how the maps may target Sykes as well as Rep. Greg Landsman, a Democrat who represents Ohio’s 1st Congressional District in Cincinnati.
Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican who was appointed to replace Vance, is also up for election and may face former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who just recently lost reelection last November to now Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno.
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