We're taking a tour of the most outrageous Republican gerrymanders in the nation. Read why in our introductory post, and click here for the full series.
Republicans had previously cracked the state capital of Columbus between two red-leaning congressional districts under their 2000s gerrymander, but after Democrats temporarily snagged one seat in the 2008 wave, Team Red reconfigured the lines to shore up their hold over Ohio. The current 3rd District was a new district Republicans drew in their 2011 gerrymander that packs in nearly as many Democrats as possible to ensure its neighbors stay Republican, and it backed Hillary Clinton by 67-29. Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty first won election at the district’s inception in 2012 and easily won 69-31 this year.
This district was part of a broader Republican gerrymander that gave their party a staggering 12 of 16 congressional districts in the last three election cycles, even when Obama narrowly carried the state 51-48 in 2012. We drew nonpartisan proposals for every state, and our map created a far more compact 3rd District. Although it had a relatively similar partisanship, our version split no municipalities aside from Columbus, which was too large for a single district. Republicans completely disregarded municipal integrity when drawing the actual 3rd because former bank lobbyist Republican Rep. Steve Stivers supposedly wanted to ensure certain Columbus banks remained in his adjacent 15th District.
Tell us what you think the district looks like in the comments!