The Ohio Redistricting Commission unanimously voted for a new congressional map for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections that favors Republicans 12-3.

The current map, in existence since the 2022 election, has 10 Republican members of Congress and five Democrats with the latter political party winning two swing districts that slightly favor them.

The commission, consisting of five Republicans and two Democrats, voted 7-0 Friday in support of the new map.

With Republicans planning a 13-2 map in their favor, Democrats worked out a deal to give U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, a safer district while making districts held by two other Democrats — Greg Landsman, D-Cincinnati, and Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo — favor Republicans.

Kaptur, the longest-serving female congresswoman in U.S. history, saw her district go from one that favors Republicans by about 6% to one that will now favor them by 9% based on partisan statewide voting results between 2016 and 2024, according to the commission.

Landsman’s district is going from one that favors Democrats by 1% to favoring Republicans by 6%, according to the commission.

The big winner was Sykes. Her district currently favors Democrats by less than 1%. Starting with the 2026 election, it will favor Democrats by 4%.

Because the two Democrats on the redistricting commission — Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio of Lakewood and House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn of Cincinnati — voted for the map, it will be in place for the next three congressional elections. If they didn’t support the map, it would have been in effect for only the next two congressional elections.

Both said if they refused the deal, Republicans were going to push through a map that favored that party 13-2.

“In private and public conversations, their threat was clear: if we refused a deal, Republicans intended to further gerrymander the state by enacting a 13-2 map on a party-line vote in November,” Antonio said after her vote.

Also after the vote, Isaacsohn said: “When the choice was between losing three of our strongest members of Congress — and make no mistake that was the choice — when we need them so desperately during (President Donald) Trump’s last two years in office — or keeping their districts in 2026, there was only one path. We cannot accept a situation where we would have zero competitive congressional districts in 2026.”

But some organizations that opposed the map put the blame at the feet of Democrats.

The Equal Districts Coalition, consisting of liberal organizations, said the Republican power grab was expected, but “we did expect the two Democratic ORC members to actually fight for us given their alleged interest in our democracy, in the rule of law and in our fight for fair maps.”

Democrats had threatened a ballot referendum if the process ended up being approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, where it was headed before the redistricting commission approved the map by Friday’s deadline. But that cannot proceed because there can only be referendums on actions taken by the state Legislature.

State Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said he expected the threatened referendum would have gathered enough signatures.

“While it may not be perfect, the map passed by the redistricting commission avoids the potential for a referendum funded by special interests to repeal any map that might’ve been passed by the General Assembly,” he said.

Friday’s vote provides “stability and (eliminates) confusion for voters over the next six years,” McColley said.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican who serves on the redistricting commission, said if opponents of the new map successfully filed a petition challenging it, “a federal court likely would have ordered us to use the current 10-5 map for the 2026 election cycle. At that point, we would’ve had no choice but to move the statewide congressional primary election to August at a cost of $50 million to taxpayers. A bipartisan outcome in the commission avoids all of that.”

VALLEY IMPACT

The changes to Sykes’ district — primarily the addition of the Kent area of Portage County — caused a chain reaction that will impact the Mahoning Valley’s 6th and 14th Districts, starting with the 2026 election.

The 14th District, represented by Republican Dave Joyce, currently has the Kent area in it. With the impending loss, the district needs to make up lost population so it will take sections of Mahoning County that are currently in the 6th District.

Canfield, Jackson, Milton, Berlin, Ellsworth, Craig Beach and a portion of Austintown will move out of the 6th and into the 14th District starting with the 2026 election.

Austintown was one of only 11 townships in the state to be split and Mahoning is among 15 counties of the state’s 88 that are being divided between two congressional districts.

The rest of Mahoning County will remain in the 6th District, which is currently represented by Republican Michael Rulli of Salem.

Rulli’s district will see significant changes starting with the 2026 election.

All of Tuscarawas County is being included in the district compared to only a portion currently. Also, more of Stark County is being added along with portions of Wayne and Holmes counties, which are all heavily Republican.

The district will lose Monroe, Noble and Washington counties, which are also strongly Republican.

Besides most of Mahoning County, the district will also keep all of Columbiana, Jefferson, Carroll, Belmont and Harrison — all strong Republican counties.

With the 2026 election, the 6th District will favor Republicans 63.9% to 36.1% for Democrats based on partisan statewide voting results between 2016 and 2024, according to the redistricting commission. The current district favors Republicans 59.1% to 40.9% for Democrats based on partisan statewide voting results from 2014 to 2022.

Mahoning is currently the most-populous county in the 6th District. With the elimination of parts of Mahoning from the district and the addition of about 50,000 people from Stark, it appears Stark will be the most-populous county starting with the 2026 election. Population estimates show Stark with about 180,600 people in the new 6th District compared to 179,300 in Mahoning County.

Besides the addition of parts of Mahoning and the reduction of parts of Portage County, the 14th District, currently represented by Republican Dave Joyce of Bainbridge, will remain intact starting with the 2026 election.

The loss of sections of Portage County — most notably Kent, a Democratic stronghold given to strengthen Sykes’ district — required the 14th to add people with the decision made to take them from Mahoning.

Lake will remain the most-populous county in the 14th District with Trumbull the second most-populous. In addition to those two counties, the district will continue to include all of Ashtabula and Geauga counties.

The 14th will also be more Republican starting in 2026.

Starting in 2026, the district will favor Republicans 58.5% to 41.5% for Democrats based on partisan statewide voting results between 2016 to 2024, according to the commission. It currently favors Republicans 54.8% to 45.2% for Democrats on voting results from 2014 to 2022.

Joyce said: “Regardless of the district lines changing, I want to make one thing clear: my main priority is serving the people of Ohio’s 14th District. Whether it’s boosting our manufacturing industry, conserving Lake Erie or protecting local jobs and small businesses, I will continue to be dedicated to making sure the voices of my constituents are heard at the federal level.”