Redistricting in Ohio ahead of the 2026 elections
Redistricting is the process of enacting new district boundaries for elected offices, particularly for offices in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures. This article covers redistricting activity in Ohio after the 2024 elections and before the 2026 elections.
Ohio was required to redraw its congressional district boundaries ahead of the 2026 elections due to a constitutional amendment that gave shorter expiration dates to maps passed without bipartisan support. On October 31, 2025, the Ohio Redistricting Commission voted unanimously to approve a new congressional map. The map will take effect for the 2026 elections.[1]
On March 2, 2022, the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a redrawn congressional map in a 5-2 vote along party lines, meaning the map lasted for four years.[2] On March 18, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to overturn the map before the state's primary elections as part of the legal challenge that overturned the initial congressional map.[3] This map took effect for Ohio's 2022 congressional elections. The legislature did not pass a new map with three-fifths support in both chambers by the end of September 2025, so the Ohio Redistricting Commission took over to adopt a plan by October 31, 2025.[4][5]
This article documents the redistricting effort in Ohio ahead of the 2026 elections. To read about redistricting in Ohio after the 2020 census, click here.
- Ohio redistrictingOhio's 2025 congressional redistricting
- Court challengesLitigation over the redrawn map
- National contextRedistricting in other states ahead of the 2026 elections
Redistricting in Ohio ahead of the 2026 elections
Ohio was required to redraw its congressional district boundaries ahead of the 2026 elections due to a constitutional amendment that gave shorter expiration dates to maps passed without bipartisan support. On October 31, 2025, the Ohio Redistricting Commission voted unanimously to approve a new congressional map. The map will take effect for the 2026 elections.[1] The legislature had the first opportunity to pass a map with bipartisan support and did not by its deadline. Had the commission not approved a bipartisan map by the end of October, the legislature could have passed a map by a simple majority vote in November.[6]
Comparison of old and new congressional map
The following maps compare the congressional district boundaries enacted after the 2020 census with those enacted in 2025 and are colored by partisan change according to 2024 presidential results.
Timeline of mid-decade redistricting in Ohio
The timeline below tracks updates to Ohio's redistricting efforts ahead of the 2026 elections, including map proposal and approval and major court filings. For more information about litigation over the new congressional map, click here.
Court challenges
- If you are aware of any relevant lawsuits that are not listed here, please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.
As of 2026, Ballotpedia had not tracked any lawsuits challenging enacted maps in this state.
To read about litigation over the map passed after the 2020 census, click here.
National overview
As of February 2026, six states had congressional district maps that were subject to change before the 2026 elections, and six states—California, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Utah—had new congressional maps. Three states were reportedly exploring voluntary redistricting, and three states had congressional maps that were subject to change due to litigation. Before 2025, only two states had conducted voluntary mid-decade redistricting since 1970.[9]
The map below shows redistricting activity between the 2024 and 2026 elections.
The table below shows redistricting activity between the 2024 and 2026 elections as well as the pre-redistricting U.S. House delegation in each state.
| State | Reason for redistricting | Status | Method of redistricting | U.S. House delegation before redistricting | Potential result of new maps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New map enacted | |||||
| California | Voluntary redistricting | Voters approved the use of a new map on Nov. 4, 2025. | Commission | 43 D - 9 R | +5 D |
| Missouri | Voluntary redistricting | Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) signed new map into law on Sept. 28, 2025. | Legislature-dominant | 6 R - 2 D | +1 R |
| North Carolina | Voluntary redistricting | Legislature passed new map into law on Oct. 22, 2025 | Legislature-dominant | 10 R - 4 D | +1 R |
| Ohio | Required by law to redistrict | Redistricting commission approved a new map on Oct. 31, 2025 | Legislature-dominant | 10 R -5 D | +2 R |
| Texas | Voluntary redistricting | U.S. Supreme Court ruled the new Texas map could be used in 2026 | Legislature-dominant | 25 R -12 D with 1 vacancy | +5 R |
| Utah | Changed due to litigation | Court approved new plaintiff-submitted map | Legislature-dominant | 4 R - 0 D | +1 D |
| Net | +3 R | ||||
| New map possible | |||||
| Florida | Voluntary redistricting | Special session to occur April 2026 | Legislature-dominant | 20 R - 8 D | - |
| Georgia | Subject to change due to litigation | Litigation ongoing | Legislature-dominant | 9 R - 5 D | - |
| Louisiana | Subject to change due to litigation | Litigation ongoing | Legislature-dominant | 4 R - 2 D | - |
| Maryland | Voluntary redistricting | House approved new map | Legislature-dominant | 7 D - 1 R | - |
| New York | Subject to change due to litigation | Litigation ongoing | Hybrid | 19 D - 7 R | - |
| Virginia | Voluntary redistricting | Litigation ongoing over constitutional amendment to allow redistricting | Hybrid | 6 D - 5 R | - |
See also
- Redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections
- Redistricting in Ohio
- State-by-state redistricting procedures
- Majority-minority districts
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- All About Redistricting
- Dave's Redistricting
- FiveThirtyEight, "What Redistricting Looks Like In Every State"
- National Conference of State Legislatures, "Redistricting Process"
- FairVote, "Redistricting"
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Politico, "Republicans notch redistricting win in Ohio — but it could have been worse for Democrats," October 31, 2025
- ↑ Dayton Daily News, "Ohio Redistricting Commission approves new U.S. House map on another party-line vote," March 2, 2022
- ↑ 13ABC, "Ohio Supreme Court makes final judgement on Congressional map challenges," March 18, 2022
- ↑ WTVG, "Ohio to redraw Congressional map for 2026 election," December 18, 2024
- ↑ ABC News 5, "Ohio GOP-controlled redistricting commission to take over map-drawing process as lawmakers miss first deadline," September 30, 2025
- ↑ NBC News, "Ohio lawmakers pass new congressional map after reaching an unexpected deal," October 31, 2025
- ↑ Ohio Redistricting Commission, "Congressional District Statistics," accessed October 31, 2025
- ↑ Ohio Capital Journal, "Ohio lawmakers miss first congressional redistricting deadline with no negotiations and no GOP map," October 1, 2025
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "Redistricting between censuses has been rare in the modern era," August 28, 2025
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