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Columbus, OH – Yesterday, after 16 months of inaction, Republicans on the Redistricting Commission were forced to once again delay the process due to political infighting among GOP politicians. It’s yet another reminder of how Republican politicians have broken the redistricting process and another sign to Ohio voters that the redistricting process in Ohio must be reformed. 

“After 16 months of inaction, Republican politicians have broken the redistricting process so completely that they can’t even agree on basic procedural decisions. It’s clear that Republicans on the Commission are already more concerned with settling political scores rather than doing the work they were elected to do. And Ohioans are paying the price. It’s time to put redistricting back in the hands of the people and remove politicians from the process,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more from Ohio outlets about the latest round of redistricting chaos created by Republicans: 

Associated Press: GOP legislative leaders’ co-chair flap has brought the Ohio Redistricting Commission to a standstill
Julie Carr Smyth

• “Ohio’s latest attempt to draw fair political maps crumbled amid Republican infighting Wednesday, begging the question of whether a commission unable even to appoint its co-chairs will be able to negotiate a bipartisan redistricting solution within the few short weeks it’s been allotted.”

Cincinnati.com: GOP infighting stalls work of Ohio Redistricting Commission as election deadline looms
Jessie Balmert

• “The first meeting of the Ohio Redistricting Commission underscored divisions among legislative Republicans that stalled selecting a co-chairman Wednesday and threatened to complicate efforts to craft new, constitutional House and Senate maps by this fall. Ohio currently has no maps for state House and Senate seats just three months before candidates must file to run for the 2024 election.”

Cleveland.com: Ohio’s legislative redistricting effort hits early snag thanks to GOP infighting
Jeremy Pelzer

• “Ohio’s latest state legislative redistricting process stalled almost as soon as it started Wednesday, thanks to infighting among Statehouse Republicans over who will co-chair the redistricting commission. The dispute, which comes amid a looming battle between House Speaker Jason Stephens and Senate President Matt Huffman over the speaker’s gavel in 2025, means the Ohio Redistricting Commission won’t begin its work until at least Friday, its next scheduled meeting.”

Dayton Daily News: Republican spat stalls redistricting process in first meeting
Avery Kreemer

• “A behind-the-scenes disagreement among Republican leadership caused a false start Wednesday for Ohio’s Redistricting Commission, which met under court order to create a semi-permanent fix to the state’s unconstitutional state legislative districts ahead of the 2024 elections.”

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Redistricting Commission descends into chaos and dysfunction on first day back
David DeWitt

• “If Ohio politicians planned to show exactly why they deserve to be kicked out of the redistricting process entirely, they couldn’t have done a better job than the shameful display they put on Wednesday morning: They immediately descended into chaos and dysfunction after waiting more than 16 months to begin the process of drawing new Ohio House and Senate maps. The meeting was supposed to be ‘organizational,’ and they failed to meet even that low bar, unable to name co-chairs of the commission that will decide on the districts that will shape Ohio’s General Assembly starting in 2025.”

Statehouse News Bureau: Meeting of Ohio map-drawing panel goes nowhere
Karen Kasler

• ‘“Is this an inauspicious start?’ DeWine was asked. ‘Well, we haven’t started yet,” DeWine said with a chuckle.’”

WCMH-TV Columbus: Republican infighting brings redistricting committee to a standstill
Natalie Fahmy

• “Leader Antonio and Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington), who are both on the commission, said they agree about who they will appoint as co-chair. They said they have a decision made up, no matter who the Republicans choose. But Speaker of The House Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) and Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) have yet to agree on who will chair the Republican side.”

WSYX-TV Columbus: GOP infighting thwarts initial efforts to draw new Ohio legislative district maps
Darrel Rowland

• “The panel supposed to draw new legislative maps ground to a halt Wednesday barely five minutes after convening — all due to internal Republican political strife. Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Jason Stephens cannot agree on who should chair the Ohio Redistricting Commission.”

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Columbus, OH –  It has been one year since Senator Lindsey Graham introduced legislation to ban abortion nationwide – a stark reminder that the entire Senate GOP primary field supports dangerous abortion bans, including bans with no exceptions for rape or incest. Ohioans will vote in November on protecting abortion access and overturning the current dangerous ban in Ohio. 

Here’s what you need to know about the #OHSEN field and abortion: 

• At his campaign launch, Bernie Moreno said he is “unequivocally pro-life.” Moreno supports a national abortion ban and does not support exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother.

• Frank LaRose supports a national abortion ban, opposes exceptions for rape or incest, and celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade. After his amendment to silence Ohioans by making it harder to amend the constitution failed, LaRose put his political ambitions first and rewrote the November ballot language to mislead and confuse Ohioans.

• Matt Dolan celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it “exciting.” Dolan said defeating the November amendment is a “priority.”

• All three GOP candidates oppose the November amendment to protect reproductive rights.

Read/Watch more: 

WATCH HERE

Frank LaRose on Meet the Press: “But as I told you, I’m pro-life and if a pro-life measure comes before the Senate, then I would vote as a pro-life American.”

Ohio Capital Journal: Russo on 2024 Senate Race: “Any one of these Republican candidates would support a total abortion ban”

Megan Henry

June 26, 2023

• As Ohio Democrats are reflecting on one year since the Dobbs decision, they are also looking ahead to next year’s U.S. Senate Race in Ohio. 

• “Let me make one thing clear — every single candidate running for Ohio’s seat supports an abortion ban, including bans that make no exceptions for rape or incest,” House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said Friday morning during a press conference. “There’s no doubt in my mind that if elected, any one of these Republican candidates would support a total abortion ban without exceptions in Ohio and across the nation.” 

• “They would make it harder for women to access health care during the most personal difficult circumstances,” Russo said.

• “The Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio would support a total abortion ban at the national level,” ODP Chair Elizabeth Walters said. “And if Republicans take back the Senate will see unprecedented attacks on women and abortion rates in this country.”

CNN: How Ohio’s ballot vote could preview the 2024 politics of abortion

Ronald Brownstein

August 8, 2023

• And if Ohio votes to restore abortion rights in November, that could make voters there particularly sensitive to the risk that Republicans might override that decision by passing a nationwide abortion ban if they win unified control of Congress and the White House next year.

• Both of the leading GOP contenders to oppose Brown have taken strongly anti-abortion positions, with Secretary of State Frank LaRose…positioning himself as the leading advocate of Issue 1 and a staunch backer of the state’s six-week abortion ban.

• LaRose’s main rival, the Trump-allied business owner Bernie Moreno, has described himself as “100 percent pro-life with no exceptions.”

Huffington Post: Ohio Republicans Twist Ballot Language For Pro-Choice Provision In Likely Attempt To Confuse Voters

Alanna Vagianos

August 25, 2023

• In November, voters will consider a ballot initiative that seeks to enshrine abortion rights and other reproductive freedoms into Ohio’s Constitution. But the five-member Ohio Ballot Board, led by anti-choice advocate and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, on Thursday approved anti-choice language to be used in the initiative, which may confuse voters.

• “Secretary of State Frank LaRose today exploited the Ohio Ballot Board process in a last-ditch effort to deceive and confuse Ohio voters ahead of the November vote on reproductive freedom,” Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, one of the main groups advocating for the amendment, said in a press release on Thursday.

• LaRose gave the deciding vote to approve the language in a 3-2 final vote. The Ohio secretary of state was a vocal advocate for the August ballot measure, Issue 1 ― an initiative to raise the threshold for altering the state constitution from a simple statewide majority vote to 60%. Although a simple majority has been the standard in Ohio for over 100 years, anti-abortion advocates in the state called for a special election to raise the vote threshold in a preemptive attempt to block the pro-choice constitutional amendment.

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Columbus, OH – Today, the Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement after Republicans on the Redistricting Commission failed to even agree on a co-chair, further delaying the redistricting process after more than a year and half of inaction from Republican politicians on the Commission. 

“After 16 months of inaction, Republican politicians have broken the redistricting process so completely that they can’t even agree on basic procedural decisions. It’s clear that Republicans on the Commission are already more concerned with settling political scores rather than doing the work they were elected to do. And Ohioans are paying the price. It’s time to put redistricting back in the hands of the people and remove politicians from the process,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

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LaRose’s Math and Excuse That Move is “Completely Incidental” Don’t Add Up

Columbus, OH –  Frank LaRose’s latest scandal is growing as taxpayers foot a steep, $600,000 bill for his decision to move the Ohio Secretary of State office to the same building as his current campaign HQ. As serious questions pile up about whether LaRose is using his government position to benefit his campaign for U.S. Senate, LaRose has offered no logical explanation for his decision and his math isn’t adding up. 

In a press conference yesterday, LaRose claimed that his decision to move the Ohio Secretary of State’s office to the same building that currently houses his campaign is “completely incidental,” but his office has failed to provide a detailed reason for why, of the hundreds of other buildings in the Columbus area and the three other buildings considered for the move, this building was chosen.  

LaRose also claimed the move would save taxpayer dollars due to cheaper rent of $11,000 a year, but even his own math doesn’t add up. Using LaRose’s justification, it would take 54 years to recoup the $600,000 in taxpayer dollars his move is wasting.

“Frank LaRose’s latest scandal is growing and Ohio taxpayers are paying the bill for his scheme to move the Secretary of State office to the same building as his campaign,” said ODP Spokesperson Reeves Oyster. “Ohioans aren’t buying LaRose’s excuses or his phony math as it becomes clearer every day that LaRose will do whatever it takes to advance his political career, regardless of how much it hurts – or costs – Ohioans.”

WATCH MORE FROM WCMH HERE

Key Points:

• “[Frank LaRose] is responding to a story NBC4’s Natalie Fahmy brought you last week about him moving his state office. His new office location will be at the same address he filed his Senate campaign run under with the Federal Election Commission and it will cost $600,000 taxpayer dollars to ready the new office for that move…”

• “LaRose says his campaign attorneys being in the same building as his official state office is purely coincidental.”

• Frank LaRose: “[The campaign office] happens to be in the same building that our new building is going to be in, but that is completely incidental…”

• “NBC4 has asked his campaign several times, this and last week, to confirm whether LaRose has done any campaign interviews from that address. They have not yet responded to that question.”

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Uihlein Bankrolled LaRose’s Amendment To Silence Ohioans In August and Organizations Working To Pass National Abortion Ban

Columbus, OH – According to a new report from Cleveland.com, Frank LaRose is set to fundraise with Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein, one of the nation’s biggest supporters of a nationwide abortion ban and the benefactor of LaRose’s failed August amendment to make it harder for Ohioans to overturn Ohio’s abortion ban. 

The news follows LaRose’s admission that he would overrule the will of Ohioans and support a nationwide abortion ban in the Senate. 

Uihlein is the largest donor of Women Speak Out, a Susan B. Anthony List-affiliated political action committee seeking to federally outlaw abortion. 

“First, Frank LaRose tried to silence Ohioans by making it harder to change the constitution,” said ODP spokesperson Reeves Oyster. “When that failed, he rewrote the November ballot language to confuse Ohioans and make it harder for the amendment to pass. LaRose has admitted he wants to ban abortion nationwide – even if that means overruling the will of Ohio voters – and his decision to fundraise with one of the country’s largest supporters of a national abortion ban proves LaRose isn’t working for Ohioans and will stop at nothing to advance his political ambitions.”

Read more:

Cleveland.com: Frank LaRose’s U.S. Senate campaign gets backing from Illinois billionaire who funded push to make it harder to change constitution

Andrew Tobias

September 12, 2023

• An Illinois billionaire who largely funded the failed proposal to make it harder to change the Ohio constitution earlier this year now is helping one of the measure’s most vocal backers in his bid to get elected to the U.S. Senate.

• The invitation for the Chicago fundraiser says Family-PAC Federal has endorsed LaRose in part because of his record opposing abortion, including voting during his time in the state Senate for a law that bans abortion after six weeks into pregnancy, in contrast to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who supports abortion rights.

• A message has been left with the LaRose campaign for this story.

• Reeves Oyster, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party, issued a statement about the Chicago fundraiser referencing LaRose’s support for some sort of federal legislation setting a national limit on abortion.

• “First, Frank LaRose tried to silence Ohioans by making it harder to change the constitution,” Oyster said. “When that failed, he rewrote the November ballot language to confuse Ohioans and make it harder for the amendment to pass. LaRose has admitted he wants to ban abortion nationwide – even if that means overruling the will of Ohio voters – and his decision to fundraise with one of the country’s largest supporters of a national abortion ban proves LaRose isn’t working for Ohioans and will stop at nothing to advance his political ambitions.”

See also: Frank LaRose Called Out for Putting “Thumb on the Scale of Fairness – Again” After Rewriting November Ballot Language; Shot, Chaser, Lime: Frank LaRose Tries to Silence, Overrule Ohioans *Again;*Frank LaRose Slammed for “Trying to Stack the Deck” Against Ohioans; Frank LaRose “Twists” Ballot Language to “Confuse,” “Deceive” Ohioans; WATCH: Loser LaRose Doubles Down on National Abortion Ban; “Issue 1 Flop” Looms Over Frank LaRose’s Senate Campaign, Becomes “Political Target” for Republicans

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