Greg Landsman ousts 13-term Congressman Steve Chabot.

Cincinnati City Council member Greg Landsman ousts 13-term Congressman Steve Chabot in an election shake up leaving Ohio Democrats hopeful but also worried for the future.

The midterm elections in Ohio left Democrats with split feelings, some races turned into blowouts such as the governor’s race between Democrat Nan Whaley and Republican Mike DeWine which was separated by over 25% of the vote. But other races such as the one between Landsman and Chabot brought national attention to the success that Democrats had in fighting off the red wave.

Despite Republicans still out preforming Democrats statewide many victories stuck out as great successes, not only did Democrats not lose any ground in Ohio congressional races they gained a seat due to Landsman’s victory.

A mixture of issues such as crime, inflation, and Bidens approval rating had many republicans calling for a red wave which would include a significant gain in the house and a takeover in the senate.

Republicans ended up losing a seat in the senate, but they were able to take control of the of the house although only by a slim margin further nullifying the red wave.

University of Cincinnati Political Science Professor David Niven said that Biden “Preformed enough to keep the trains on the track” and “that this election wasn’t about him, he did not inspire millions of Americans to come out and vote against democratic candidates.” 

The success of Greg Landsman’s campaign had to do with many factors, this year the Ohio legislature was tasked with re-drawing election maps and following rules which made it impossible to split up the city of Cincinnati between districts.

Cincinnati is an overwhelmingly blue city, the split between districts in the past diluted the Democratic votes into deeply red counties. 

David Niven added that “Even though it [District One] looked similar to the old district which was also Cincinnati and Warren County it’s a big difference when you say all of Cincinnati and Warren County instead of a piece of Cincinnati, some Western Hamilton, and Warren County.”

This change put Chabot within striking distance for Landsman’s campaign who took full advantage of the opportunity.

The Landsman campaign had an easy time painting Chabot as a dangerous out of touch extremist. Early in his career Chabot was an ordinary Republican who had positions that left him in the mainstream of the party. But the past few years saw him take a hard right turn, not only did Chabot vote to de-certify Pennsylvania in the 2020 election he also voted against Biden’s Infrastructure bill which will have big a big positive effect on the city of Cincinnati and the Brent Spence Bridge.

Talking about his campaign Landsman Emphasized “That it was incredibly important that we be very clear with voters about Steve Chabot and what he had become and how dangerous that was to our democracy.” 

On election night the Landsman campaign was very confident on the campaign they ran but were prepared for both results. 

Ultimately, they were successful in taking down the 13-term congressman and flipping district one blue for the first time in a decade.

Landsman said that he “does feel very much a part of what will be a multi-year multi-election effort to not just protect voting rights but to strengthen them” 

Landsman could have a very long congressional career if the re-districting rules Ohio constitution are upheld in the coming years. 

But the Harper v. Moore out of North Carolina could possibly spell trouble in regards to the redistricting rules in Ohio and beyond. If the supreme court rules in favor of North Carolina (Moore) the independent state legislature theory would take effect.

This would give state legislatures exclusive control of elections, not even the constitution of the state would have any power against the legislature. Nobody would have the authority to question what state legislatures could do.

Landsman added that “this is more than just redistricting or gerrymandering. This is about democracy; this is a question about how much people believe in our democracy and the rule of law and whether or not this great experiment is going to survive”

Ohio has already had a taste of what a post Harper v. Moore world will look like if the supreme court rules in favor of North Carolina.

The Ohio state legislature oversees redistricting and voting rules but due to regulations set in the Ohio constitution they need court signoffs to be able to implement new maps and rules. During the map making process the legislature largely ignored the state constitution and proposed unconstitutional maps before implementing one of the maps without full court approval. In an order from the Ohio supreme court the state legislature will be ordered to draw new maps for the 2024 election cycle. But by then if the Supreme Court rules in favor of North Carolina the Ohio state legislature wouldn’t have follow any rules or regulations and could draw whatever map they want.

Landsman’s Deputy Campaign Manager Zach Blandford added that if “The independent state legislative stuff becomes the law of the land that sort of lawlessness you’ve seen in Ohio is no longer lawlessness it’s just sort of the way business is done”

Ohio Democrats and voters nationwide will continue to sit on the edge of their seats as this case enters the Supreme Court. Its outcome will not only possibly have devastating effects on Landsman’s campaign, but statewide and nationwide voters can expect to see radical unchallenged changes to voting maps and rules.