Ohio lawmakers prepare to draw new congressional map| Reporters Roundtable

A bipartisan committee of Ohio lawmakers will begin work on a new congressional map for the midterm elections, meeting on Sept. 22 with an end-of-October deadline for a map to pass with bipartisan support. But is bipartisanship even remotely possible? This week Democrats unveiled their own redrawn map, one that would give Republicans a slight advantage in eight districts with Democrats holding a slight advantage in seven. Ohio currently has 10 Republicans and five Democrats serving in the U.S. House. The speaker of the Ohio House, who presides over a supermajority of Republicans, immediately called the democratic effort a gerrymander, even as democrats say the republican gerrymander is what they're trying to solve. We will begin the Friday “Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable” with the beginning of the redistricting efforts and whether this time the two parties can work together on a map.