As some Republicans balk at Trump’s calls for gerrymandering, Ohio Republican politicians go along

Silver linings are so rare in the grim story being written on the death watch of self-governance in Ohio and our democratic republic writ large that any glimmer of hope almost knocks you sideways. This one surprised me in a God Bless America way.

Former Republican Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels broke his silence about the brazen Trump scheme to steal the 2026 election before a single vote is cast.

Kansas Republicans also appear unwilling to heed Trump’s call to rig the midterms through rare, mid-decade redistricting to preserve the party’s control on Capitol Hill.

The convicted felon-in-chief (and his morally bankrupt Ohio veep) are strong-arming red states to redraw their congressional districts for the sole purpose of snagging more guaranteed Republican seats in the U.S. House.

Forget fair, competitive, representative districts where the voting power of each person is roughly equal to that of any other person.

Trump and JD Vance are leaning on Republican legislatures to produce unfairly drawn districts that increase the voting power of certain groups at the expense of others. 

That’s called gerrymandering or cheating to win.

Redrawing a district map with a two-to-one ratio of straight party line voters dilutes the vote of other constituents who statistically cannot influence the outcome of any election.

I know. I lived in one of Ohio’s most egregiously gerrymandered districts for 10 years and expect a return to cancelled voting power in the redistricting map Ohio Republican will unilaterally enact in a few weeks.

That’s the plan, anyway.

But while Statehouse kingpins openly defy the Ohio Constitution to ensure continued party dominance through partisan gerrymandering — not persuasion — principled Republicans elsewhere balk. 

They are unsettled by the rush to manipulate congressional voting boundaries — between censuses — to secure election results demanded by a lawless president accustomed to unchecked power aided and abetted by a Republican majority in Congress.

That narrow majority could be wiped out by voters in the midterms if the fix isn’t in with extra gerrymandered congressional districts Republicans can’t lose by design.

But subverting the democratic process to win with lopsided redistricting that disenfranchises thousands of voters to placate the Dear Leader is a bridge too far for some.

“My home state of Indiana is on the national Republican target list for new lines, as part of the quest to ensure continued control of the (U.S.) House,” wrote Daniels, the ex-Indiana governor, in an op-ed for the Washington Post.

“While the outcome sought is one I support, the tactic (italics, mine) being employed to get there is not, and I hope earnestly that my state’s leaders will politely decline to participate.”

He urged his fellow Republicans “not to cave to White House pressure to redistrict,” suggesting that would only invite public disgust because “Hoosiers, like most Americans, place a high value on fairness and react badly to its naked violation.”

If only Ohio’s lame duck Republican governor could summon the same courage not to cave on Trump-inspired gerrymandered congressional maps that give unfair advantage to the GOP. 

If only Mike DeWine could use his bully pulpit to condemn the charade his fellow Republicans are running to skip good faith, bipartisan redistricting negotiations altogether and unilaterally gerrymander more GOP districts in naked violation of the state constitution.

If only the guv could deliver on promises made for once.

Am I right, Dayton? A year ago, DeWine promised to take politics out of redistricting and restore fairness to the process. 

He vowed to pass an alternative approach to redistricting reform if voters rejected the anti-gerrymandering initiative in 2024.

DeWine’s vaunted plan was similar to the non-partisan legislative commission that draws maps in Iowa.

“I will lead as much as I can, and I will do everything I can to get the legislature, when they come back in January, to pass this, get it on the ballot, and move forward,” the governor said at a press conference before the referendum was defeated last fall.

All talk and no cigar. DeWine did nothing to improve a redistricting system he acknowledged was broken and needed to be replaced. 

Today he stands ready to pass the gerrymandering baton to the gerrymandered Republican supermajorities in the General Assembly prepared to approve at least two more congressional districts that unduly favor one party over the other to placate an epically corrupt president. 

As a member of the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission DeWine will look the other way again as GOP lawmakers mock the rule of law and silence disenfranchised voters with illegally gerrymandered maps.

He is a coward.

Mitch Daniels is not, and neither are Republican legislators in Kansas and other Trump-supporting states who resist the full court press to throw an election for one man.

Even party loyalists see the shameful race for additional gerrymandered GOP districts for what it is — a precursor to the collapse of democracy and just wrong.

“I don’t underestimate the pressure Indiana’s leaders are under, and I empathize with them in the predicament they face,” said Daniels, “but I hope they quietly and respectfully pass on this idea. Their duty is to the citizens and the future of our state, not to a national political organization or a temporary occupant of the White House.”

A silver lining to a grim story from a neighboring state that, unlike Ohio, imparts fleeting hope for a different ending. 

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal. View the original article.