Jordan out next year

NORWALK — Come January, residents in Huron County will no longer be represented by conservative firebrand Jim Jordan. Thanks to redistricting, the congressman won't be representing residents in Erie, Sandusky, Seneca and Lorain counties either. Jordan Redistricting happens every 10 years. Coinciding with the U.S. Census, state legislatures across the country redraw state political districts and Congressional maps to account for population shifts. Some states experienced faster population growth, and other states — like Ohio — slower growth. The result of the 2020 Census is that Ohio was apportioned one fewer representative in Congress beginning next year. The number goes from 16 to 15. Looking back Drawing up new districts every 10 years was never an easy process, but this time it was supposed to be different. In 2015 and in 2018, Ohio voters overwhelmingly supported two state constitutional amendments that prohibit gerrymandering in the reapportionment process for state districts and for congressional maps. Gerrymandering — the manipulation of district boundaries to favor one party — was outlawed in Ohio after two amendments to the state's constitution were approved by voters and provided a specific process that was supposed to guarantee fair districts. Republicans who controlled the Ohio Redistricting Committee ignored the law and gerrymandered the district maps to keep and expand the electoral advantages they created for the party after the 2000 and 2010 census counts. The law required the new maps reflect the state's party breakdown based upon past elections, which over the past 10 years was calculated to be 54% Republican, 46% Democrat. The Congressional maps adopted by the committee gave Republicans a 66%-33% advantage, however, delivering fully two-thirds of Ohio's 15 Congressional seats to Republicans by way of unfair districts. New Congressional Districts, 2022 The seven-member Redistricting Committee is comprised of five Republicans, including the governor, the Secretary of State and the state auditor, and just two Democrats. It wielded that partisan advantage to ignore the amendments banning gerrymandering and then ignored repeated Ohio Supreme Court rulings ordering it to follow the law. "Throughout the process, the Republican map drawers refused to expressly work toward a 54 to 46 percent partisan share," a court majority opinion rendered in March states. "That is not a 'superficial ratio,' a 'Democratic ratio,' or an 'arbitrary percentage,' as one (committee member) cavalierly dismissed it. Rather, as we made clear in (the earlier ruling in the case), it is a foundational ratio created not by this court or by any particular political party but instead etched by the voters of Ohio into our Constitution." And voters — by wide margins — wanted gerrymandering ended and wanted fair elections. In November 2015, 2.1 million Ohioans, 71% of the votes cast, approved the state constitutional amendment "creating a bipartisan public process for drawing legislative districts." In May 2018, 1.2 million Ohioans, 71% of ballots cast, approved the same thing for congressional districts. But the delay tactics Republicans employed, ignoring the mandates from voters, worked. With the primary and general elections fast approaching, the committee ran out the clock and prevailed, keeping what the court repeatedly ruled were unlawful, gerrymandered maps. No Democrat voted in favor of the new maps. What now The argument against gerrymandering is that by creating unfair districts the state ends up with weak leaders who don't have to work for the votes they get and then don't deliver for voters. They also can't be held accountable by the press or anyone else back home, because their re-election prospects are so advantaged by the unfair gerrymandered districts in which they run. Jordan's 4th U.S. Congressional seat was and will continue to be a gerrymandered district that gives any Republican candidate a sizable advantage in the number of registered voters who are Republican vs. registered voters who are Democrat. From 2002 to 2012 the district included the counties of Allen, Auglaize, Champaign, Hancock, Hardin, Logan, Marion, Morrow, Richland, Shelby, and part of Wyandot. After 2012, it became the "duck-shaped" district voters are familiar with and included the northern and southern slices of Erie and Huron counties, respectively, a portion of Lorain County and all of Sandusky and Seneca. It's been a safe Republican seat in Congress for more than a decade and stretches more than 110 miles from Lorain County near Cleveland to near the Ohio-Indiana border to group voters in a way that provides those advantages. Jordan was first elected in 2006 with 60% of the general election vote. He was re-elected two years later with 65% and re-elected again in 2010 with 71% of the vote. He's skated to victory in every election since, thanks, at least in part, to being in a district drawn to all but guarantee a Republican victory every two years. There's nobody even willing to suggest that Jordan has that wide an appeal to generate that kind of electoral success. Even Republicans, when asked, are hard-pressed to recount what they believe are Jordan's accomplishments for district residents during his 16 years in Congress that might otherwise account for his success as a candidate. Erie County commissioner Matt Old said Jordan cosponsored the bill to rename the NASA Plum Brook station in honor of Neil Armstrong, which raised its profile. Perkins Township trustee Tim Colemen provided a link to a website that lists bills in Congress that Jordan sponsored or co-sponsored, but both Old and Coleman, while praising Jordan, were unable to cite any funding initiatives or other local projects that Jordan championed. "He has been a focused conservative voice for all Ohioans in his district and I know he will continue to fight for our values in the future," state Rep. Dick Stein, R-Norwalk, said. Jeff Bertram, chairman of the Huron County Republican Party, also praised Jordan for his leadership, but he also didn't provide any specific funding initiatives or other local projects championed by Jordan. Jordan with members of the Huron County Republican Party, from left: Prosecutor James Sitterly, state Rep. Nathan Manning, David Frietag, county commissioner Skip Wilde, Bob Meilander, Jordan, Jan Tkach, state Rep. Dick Stein, county commissioner Terry Boose, Patty Stein, sheriff Todd Corbin, and Steve Euton. Photo provided "Jim Jordan has been a friend to all freedom-loving Americans, in fact, he was a founding member and sat as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Huron County should be proud to say that Jim Jordan was our friend and representative for 16 years," Bertram wrote. Questions are hard Jordan, who is a frequent guest on Fox News and other national news programs, won't provide the local press with his contact information and Congressional staff members who work for him generally don't respond to inquiries sent to them. Jordan won't say if he supports gerrymandering, if he's benefited from it, or offer any opinion about how the state constitutional amendments approved by voters in 2015 and 2018 to prohibit gerrymandering were ignored. He also won't comment about the rule of law and what it means. Jordan also won't answer the question about what he's accomplished for constituents in his 16 years in Congress, or whether he's secured any federal funding for local projects. Russell Dye, Jordan's communications director, did provide responses to the inquiry on Thursday after ignoring questions for weeks. He wrote that Jordan had sponsored "64 bills signed into law," but Dye wouldn't provide any detail of any significance. "I'll point to one in particular, just because I'm a nice guy and want to help you out," Dye wrote in an email Thursday. "In 2019, Mr. Jordan sponsored the bipartisan Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act. This bill expands healthcare benefits to local Ohio veterans exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam." Jordan did not initiate the bill, however, and was one of 333 cosponsors of it. This past summer, Jordan voted against the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act, a landmark veterans' benefits bill approved by Congress in August with a bipartisan majority. Dye Dye, like Jordan, never answered the questions and instead provided a non-responsive statement, dismissing the impact of gerrymandering. "Congressman Jordan has always done what he told the voters he would do — whether it's assisting seniors get Medicare and Social Security benefits, expediting passports, helping veterans, meeting with thousands of constituents or touring hundreds of businesses in Ohio's 4th District — and the constituents know it," Dye wrote. "That's why they keep sending him back to Congress." The congressman from Urbana, Ohio, a former wrestling coach at Ohio State University, also won't talk about what role he played in the Jan. 6 insurrection, whether he hoped to overthrow the U.S. government at that time, or his vote in Congress against certifying the 2020 presidential election and his repeating the lie about former President Trump winning it. After the 2020 presidential election, Trump, in a secret, closed-door ceremony, awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom but never explained what Jordan had done to be honored with it. Jordan has refused to answer questions about why he was awarded the medal. What now When residents in Sandusky County and in the southern portion of Erie County vote in this year's General Election they won't see Jim Jordan on their ballots. They will be choosing between Democrat U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Republican nominee J.R. Majewski in the 9th U.S. House District. The 9th District was gerrymandered this year — eliminating the Lorain County part of it where there are more registered Democrats and adding Williams, Fulton and Defiance counties, where there are more registered Republicans. It's been considered a toss-up race even though Majewski is a MAGA candidate who claimed to be a combat war veteran although his military records don't reflect that. According to military records obtained by the Associated Press, Majewski did not serve in Afghanistan as he claimed, but rather at Air Force bases in Japan and Qatar. Residents in Lorain, Huron and Seneca counties are voting in the 5th U.S. House District, not the 4th District. They will choose between Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Latta and Democrat Craig Swartz. The portions of Erie, Huron and Lorain counties that were part of the old 4th District, and Sandusky and Seneca counties all were removed when the district was gerrymandered this year by Republicans. Hardin, Delaware, Morrow, Richland and Ashland counties were added to the district. Jordan's 2022 opponent is Democrat Tamie Wilson, a political newcomer. Neither Swartz nor Wilson are expected to be competitive against their races.