Some Black former lawmakers from Ohio have split from most of their Democratic colleagues and are opposing Issue 1, the redistricting proposal on the fall ballot. But members of the group have broken from Democratic positions before.
The Black Equity and Redistricting Fund was formed to share concerns about Ohio's redistricting proposal, based largely on what happened after Michigan voters approved a similar change to the map-drawing process in 2016.
The Citizens Not Politicians plan on the November ballot would replace the seven elected officials on Ohio’s redistricting commission with a 15-member non-politician panel of Republicans, Democrats and independents, who would draw and approve congressional and legislative district maps. The amendment also would require "the statewide proportion of districts in each redistricting plan that favors each political party shall correspond closely to the statewide partisan preferences of the voters of Ohio," which would be determined using the results of the last six statewide elections.
“This is a scheme, a scheme that is designed to undermine democracy under the guise of reform, of gerrymandering," said John Barnes, a former state representative from Cleveland who founded the Black Equity and Redistricting Fund.
Barnes said the proportional partisan representation plan in Issue 1 would disenfranchise voters and diminish Black elected leadership.
"No one, hardly anyone that I know believes in gerrymandering. But we also don't believe in a unilateral shift, a process that's going to take the opportunity away from people," Barnes said. “This is likened to ideological vigilantism. It's a process of people who are trying to hijack the Ohio system, the Ohio voter system, for an obvious outcome that is inconsistent with democracy."
Former representative Bernadine Kennedy-Kent said appointing political novices to lead the map-drawing process will lead to disaster.
"If you just put people in there, just put people in there who don't have the knowledge, who are not accountable, then you really do take away the voters rights," Kennedy-Kent said.
Similar proposal in Michigan led to bad result, says lawmaker
That was echoed by a former state lawmaker from Michigan who was invited to speak about that state's similar redistricting overhaul, passed by voters in 2016.
"I have to go on record and say initially, I supported blindly," said Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, now a member of the Detroit School Board. "And so I know that many of the members here in Ohio have probably without any thought said, 'well, these are our allies. These are people that we typically run with. These are people that typically get to our fundraisers. So sure, I'll come on board and support it.' But what they don't realize is the outcome will mean diminished black leadership. And that's where we draw the line.
Gay-Dagnogo worked with a group of Black residents of Detroit who sued in 2022 over the legislative maps produced by Michigan's independent commission, claiming it violated the US Constitution by relying primarily on race and minimizing the Black population in several districts. Those districts had been drawn with Black voting populations under 50%, which the commission said it did to avoid "packing" Black voters into those districts. A panel of federal judges agreed with the residents, and the US Supreme Court declined to intervene. The commission drew new maps this year.
Group includes Republicans along with Democrats who've split with the party before
The Black Equity and Redistricting Fund also includes Republicans Fraxaan Jeyte, a former Somali refugee who ran for Columbus City Council in 2023, and Charlotte McGuire, running for the Ohio Senate this fall. McGuire was appointed to the State Board of Education by Gov. John Kasich in 2016 and believed to the first Black woman to be the president of the state school board.
"Everyone has to have a vote. And that vote is to your voice at the ballot," McGuire said. "When we're talking about delegating to a constituent group that is not accountable to the people, we could get in trouble."
Most elected Republicans have come out in opposition to Issue 1, including Gov. Mike DeWine. Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima), who helped create the redistricting process voters approved in 2015 and 2018, has been a leading voice against Issue 1.
This isn't the first time Barnes and Kennedy-Kent have spoken out against their party. Barnes had broken with Democrats over some issues, refused to join the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, sued the Ohio Democratic Party and chairman Chris Redfern for defamation in 2014, and didn't receive the party's endorsement when he ran and won reelection that year. Kennedy-Kent sued the Ohio House Democratic Caucus for ousting her in 2018 not long after she supported Republican Ryan Smith for speaker, and endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2020.
Tom Roberts, President of the Ohio Conference of Branches of the NAACP, said in response to the group's claims: “Gerrymandering for generations has harmed Black communities and Black people in Ohio, and Issue 1 will finally put an end to this scourge on our system of representative government. What could be more unaccountable than the politicians seven times imposing unconstitutional, gerrymandered maps on Ohio voters that are designed to dilute and divide Black communities? What could be more unaccountable than being one of the 10 most gerrymandered states in the nation?"
"I have never heard of this ‘Black Equity and Redistricting Fund,’ but I can tell you Issue 1 is endorsed by every major civil rights organization in Ohio, including the NAACP, the Ohio Unity Coalition, and Ohio Organizing Collaborative," he added.
