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For Immediate Release:

Friday, January 14, 2022

“This is gerrymandering. It’s cheating, and it poisons everything.”

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Ohio media outlets wasted no time this week taking the Ohio Republicans to task following the Ohio Supreme Court ruling overturning blatantly gerrymandered and unconstitutional legislative maps. Ohio Capital Journal editor David DeWitt eviscerated Republican justices on the Ohio Supreme Court following their dissents on this week’s ruling :

“Three Ohio Supreme Court justices have also shamefully abdicated their responsibility to the Ohio Constitution and the voters. Either they don’t understand the court’s critical role to check partisan politicians who cheat voters with gerrymandering, or they don’t care and are themselves engaged in a partisan political power quest rather than constitutional jurisprudence,” writes DeWitt.

WVXU-FM political reporter Howard Wilkinson didn’t mince word either, noting he expected Republican justices to cave to their own party and “play dead” but showing how in the end, the Ohio GOP “got what it deserved,” thanks in part to the swing vote of a Republican justice:

“In both cases, the statehouse Republicans tried to pull a fast one on the Ohio Supreme Court. And in both cases, they failed miserably.” writes Wilkinson.

Read more below:

Ohio Capital Journal: Supreme Court dissenting justices on redistricting mock Ohioans’ rights to judicial review

David Dewitt

• The argument of the three Republican supreme court justices dissenting against the anti-gerrymandering opinion issued by the court 4-3 Wednesday appears to be: Republican politicians are allowed to rig the game in their favor against the wishes of Ohio voters and in violation of the Ohio Constitution, and the Ohio Supreme Court has no authority to stop them.
• In 2015, 71% of Ohio voters amended the state constitution for Statehouse redistricting reform demanding an end to partisan gerrymandering.
• Nevertheless, in September, Ohio Republican politicians awarded themselves continued supermajorities.
• This is gerrymandering. It’s cheating, and it poisons everything.
• But three Republican Ohio Supreme Court justices would throw away the judiciary’s power to hold politicians responsible for following the Ohio Constitution and the voters’ demands to end gerrymandering.
• Saying the Ohio Supreme Court “does not have license” to uphold the Ohio Constitution on such a fundamental question of democracy for our Republic, when the maps were created jointly by the two other branches of government, is an odd and absurd argument to come from some of the highest members of the state’s judicial branch.
• And now three Ohio Supreme Court justices have also shamefully abdicated their responsibility to the Ohio Constitution and the voters. Either they don’t understand the court’s critical role to check partisan politicians who cheat voters with gerrymandering, or they don’t care and are themselves engaged in a partisan political power quest rather than constitutional jurisprudence.

WVXU-FM Cincinnati: Commentary: Ohio GOP got what it deserved from the Ohio Supreme Court

Howard Wilkinson

• It really boggles the mind that the five Republicans on the Ohio Legislative Redistricting Commission and their GOP pals in the legislature thought they could get away with it.
• Drawing and approving a four-year map for Ohio House and Senate districts and a separate map for Ohio’s 15 congressional district that were so skewed to favor the GOP that anyone with a lick of sense could see the maps were blatantly unconstitutional.
• Now, because they couldn’t find it in themselves to draw a congressional district map that was not only fair but constitutional, the legislature will have 30 days to try again.
• In both cases, the statehouse Republicans tried to pull a fast one on the Ohio Supreme Court. And in both cases, they failed miserably.
• Following the law was apparently too much to ask of a hyper-partisan Republican super majority in the legislature, who routinely puff out their chests and strut about the House and Senate chambers, in the sure knowledge that they can get away with anything they want. Well, not this time.
• With four Republicans and three Democrats on the Ohio Supreme Court, you might well have thought that a majority of the court would have rolled over and played dead when an assortment of voting rights groups marched in and filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of both the state legislative maps and the congressional district map. But that’s not what happened.
• [Chief Justice Maureen] O’Connor is no fan of partisan gerrymandering, whether done by Republicans or Democrats. In her written opinion Wednesday, concurring with the majority, she said something rather extraordinary:
• “Having now seen firsthand that the current Ohio Redistricting Commission – comprised of statewide elected officials and partisan legislators – is seemingly unwilling to put aside partisan concerns as directed by the people’s vote, Ohioans may opt to pursue further constitutional amendment to replace the current commission with a truly independent, nonpartisan commission that more effectively distances the redistricting process from partisan politics.”

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For Immediate Release:

Friday, January 14, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement applauding the Ohio Supreme Court ruling that blocks the GOP-gerrymandered congressional maps from moving forward.

“Once again, the Ohio Supreme Court did what the legislature refused to do – listened to the will of Ohio voters. Any map that further rigs our state in favor of one party over another is unacceptable and we’ll be watching closely to make sure any new maps reflect the fair representation that Ohioans overwhelmingly called for.”  

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January 14, 2021

Happy Friday, and welcome to “Buckeye Brawl,” a weekly newsletter from the Ohio Democratic Party highlighting the nasty, chaotic, and expensive Republican primary for Senate. This out-of-control primary is making conservatives “deeply worried” about the prospects of Republicans losing this seat. 

As the Republican Senate primary continues to sink lower and lower, these GOP candidates are injecting even more nasty personal attacks, more chaos, and more money into this race. We’re here to help you keep track of all of it. 

This week, Politico’s Steven Shepard said, “The nation’s wildest, most-wide-open Senate primary gets wilder, more wide open.” 

Here’s what you may have missed:

DEFENDING A RINO. The pro-Josh Mandel Club for Growth is up with a new $750,000 ad buy hitting Jane Timken for her anti-Trump past. The ad says, “Jane Timken knows she wants your vote. But Timken claimed she didn’t know how she would have voted on Trump’s impeachment while passionately defending her RINO congressman after he voted to impeach Trump.” It’s a similar line of attack to what Mandel has been saying for months. This week, Mandel’s campaign was promoting an op-ed attacking Timken titled, “Pro-Impeachment Senate Candidate Jane Timken Desperately Hoping Voters Forget Her Record.” Mandel’s spokesperson also slammed Timken, saying, “I don’t believe any candidate who didn’t back President Trump on Jan 6th deserves his endorsement in 2022.” Yikes. 

BUYING THEIR CONSULTANTS VACATION HOMES. Matt Dolan, the only candidate who Trump explicitly said he would not endorse, announced he put $10.5 million of his own money into his campaign this week. The Big Tech-backed, pro-Vance Protect Ohio Values PAC Executive Director Luke Thompson subtweeted Dolan, saying, “Watching Cleveland self-funders spend a million per point on the ballot while buying their consultants vacation homes.” Or was Thompson subtweeting Bernie Moreno, the other Cleveland self-funder who has put millions of dollars into his campaign? With so many self-funding millionaires, it’s hard to say! 

WHERE OH WHERE IS TIMKEN TIME? Reacting to Timken releasing yet another internal poll and accompanying campaign memo hyping the poll, Mandel campaign manager Scott Guthrie went after Timken, saying, “When they make you write a defensive full page press release saying that people are “coalescing” around your 15% candidate, you are confirming that, in fact, no one is coalescing around your candidate.” Guthrie mocked Vance, retweeting this: “Funny how JD Vance ain’t even running top 4 in Ohio.” Last week, Vance’s allies attacked Timken, calling releasing an internal poll “desperate” and another Vance booster said she is “begging for endorsements.” Seems like the rest of the GOP Senate field agrees it is definitely not Timken Time!

Thanks for reading along – that’s all for the Buckeye Brawl this week. If you have questions, my email is [email protected]. Have a great weekend! 

For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

DeWine Tells Youngstown Vindicator He’ll Blindly Endorse Any GOP Candidate for Senate – Even Those Who Attacked Him 

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Mike DeWine is flailing so badly within his own party that he’s willing to lay down and blindly endorse any single Republican running for Senate – even those who continue to attack him. Echoing Ted Cruz putting his arms around Donald Trump after Trump brutally attacked him and his family, DeWine is doing anything he can to suck up to these Senate candidates and win back support from Republicans, who are increasingly running away from DeWine and putting his primary campaign in even more danger.

As a reminder that Mike DeWine is no moderate and will do anything to advance his own political interests, the candidates that DeWine is enthusiastic about endorsing have attacked Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, called rape “inconvenient,” and have said the January 6 terrorist attack was “blown out of proportion.”

And almost every single Republican candidate in the GOP Senate primary has gone after DeWine, from Josh Mandel calling DeWine “RINO DeWine” and a “squishy Republican governor” to Bernie Moreno calling out the rest of the Senate field for not criticizing DeWine early enough. Yet, DeWine is willing to risk his entire reputation and the reputation of the state of Ohio just to have a shot at reelection.

“Mike DeWine is so desperate to try and remain relevant in the GOP primary that he’s willing to bear hug extreme candidates who seem to find new ways to embarrass our state every single day. By promising to endorse whichever candidate comes out of the nastiest GOP primary in the country, DeWine is endorsing Josh Mandel’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen, J.D. Vance’s comments about rape being ‘inconvienent’ and Jane Timken’s attempts to downplay the Jan. 6th terrorist attack. It’s a sad final act of a desperate politician trying to remain relevant after 40 years in office,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more here and below:

• Gov. Mike DeWine will back the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate ­even if it’s someone who has harshly criticized him.
• Some of the Republican candidates for Senate —­ particularly ex-state Treasurer Josh Mandel, the current frontrunner ­— have been openly critical of DeWine, a fellow Republican, primarily because of the restrictions he put in place early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
• DeWine said he’d have no issue sharing a campaign rally stage and supporting the winner of the Republican primary for Senate even if that person opposes his re-election bid.

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For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement applauding the Ohio Supreme Court decision blocking the GOP-gerrymandered state legislative maps from moving forward. Following the Court’s decision, Chair Walters called on the Republican-controlled commission to finally put politics aside and do the jobs Ohio voters twice overwhelmingly called on them to do – create fair maps reflective of our state.   

“Twice, Ohioans overwhelmingly demanded change and fair representation, and I’m glad that the Ohio Supreme Court listened. The Supreme Court today recognized what Ohioans already knew – GOP politicians tried to ram through an unconstitutional map that further rigs the state in favor of one party over another. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, it’s imperative that the commission actually do their jobs this time and create maps that reflect our state, not a Republican party wish list.” 

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