Ohio lawmakers set to reach unexpected deal on a new congressional map [View all]

Source: NBC News

Oct. 30, 2025, 1:15 PM EDT


Ohio Republican and Democratic lawmakers are set to agree to a deal on a new congressional map that would give a slight, but not overwhelming, boost to the GOP ahead of next year’s midterm elections, a source familiar with the negotiations told NBC News.

Members of the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission plan to make the deal public at a Thursday meeting that would shift two Democratic-held districts to the right and one to the left. It would also maintain 10 districts that favor Republicans and two that are Democratic strongholds. Punchbowl News was first to report details of the deal.

The deal comes as a surprise to many observers. Democrats largely expected the constitutionally mandated redistricting commission to reach a stalemate, as it did in 2021. If the commission failed to settle on a new map ahead of the 2026 elections, responsibility for setting congressional boundaries would have fallen back to the Republican-controlled Legislature, which could have drawn an aggressively gerrymandered map. If that happened, Democrats threatened to pursue a statewide referendum that could have resulted in voters blocking the map from going into effect.

A map enacted by the state’s redistricting commission wouldn’t be subject to a referendum, while Democrats would avoid the worst-case scenario map. In negotiations, the source said, Republicans showed Democrats a map that had the GOP controlling 13 of the state’s 15 districts.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/ohio-lawmakers-unexpected-deal-new-congressional-map-rcna240741