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New U.S. House districts created; Ohioans to have 1 primary

State, with 16 new U.S. House districts, will have 1 primary next year.

A major change in the new map from one passed in September was putting all of Montgomery County in one congressional district, the 10th, along with Greene County and part of Fayette County.

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By William Hershey, Columbus Bureau Updated 11:02 AM Thursday, December 15, 2011

After more than two months of political wrangling and voter confusion, legislators finally joined forces Wednesday to create 16 new U.S. House districts and make sure Ohioans have just one primary in 2012.

The legislation now goes to Republican Gov. John Kasich for his signature. “The governor wanted a single primary, and we look forward to reviewing what the legislature has passed,” Rob Nichols, Kasich’s spokesman said.

A major change in the new map from one passed in September was putting all of Montgomery County in one congressional district, the 10th, along with Greene County and part of Fayette County.

The September map divided the county into two districts. Like the September map, however, the new map puts U.S. Reps. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, in the same district, setting up a likely primary battle.

The battle over the districts resulted in the possibility of two primaries, one in March for U.S. Senate and state candidates and a second in June for U.S. House and presidential candidates.

The March 6 primary approved in the bill will make Ohio part of “Super Tuesday” when presidential primaries and caucuses will be held in 11 states.

The extra primary would have cost $15 million.

Besides creating the new districts and setting the primary date, the legislation established a bipartisan redistricting reform task force to improve the heated political process.

The map-drawing process was particularly contentious because Ohio’s U.S. House delegation for 2012 was reduced from 18 to 16 members because of the state’s slow population growth.

The vote was 77-17 in the House, with 21 Democrats, including Clayton Luckie of Dayton and Roland Winburn of Harrison Twp., joining 56 Republicans in support. All the “no” votes were Democrats.

The Senate vote was 27-6, with four Democrats joining 23 Republicans in support and all “no” votes coming from Democrats.

Both bodies passed House Bill 369 as emergency legislation, meaning it would take effect immediately upon Kasich’s signature.

In an email, Chris Redfern, Ohio Democratic chairman, said passage of the bill will end the Democrats signature-gathering effort to put a referendum on the September map on the 2012 ballot.

Keary McCarthy, spokesman for House Minority Leader Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, conceded that the map approved Wednesday was “virtually” the same as the one Democrats wouldn’t get behind in November. He said the redistricting task force was an improvement. Still, the map favors Republicans in 12 districts and Democrats in four, just as the September map did.

However, the new district with Montgomery County, while favoring Republicans, is more competitive than the district most of the county was part of in September.

Passage of the map came just two days after the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting released a report, based on documents obtained through a public records request, that concluded most of the redistricting work was done behind closed doors and that U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., through his political team, had a major role in crafting the districts.

Republicans discounted the report, but Democrats were still fuming about it and the whole process Wednesday.

Sen. Nina Turner, D-Cleveland, voted against the bill and called the whole process “rotten to the core.”

Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, cited putting Montgomery County into one district and saving $15 million by having just one primary as reasons for backing the map.

Here is how other Dayton-area counties ended up in the map:

8th District: Butler, Darke, Miami, Clark, Preble counties and part of Mercer County, represented by Boehner.

1st District: Warren County, along with part of Hamilton County, represented by U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati.

4th District: Champaign County and other counties outside the Dayton area, represented by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana.

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