Dem governors to spend millions on Ohio ads

The Democratic Governors Association has reserved air time in Ohio as part of an eight-state, $20 million ad buy in a campaign to elect Democratic governors in a fight against what it sees as partisan gerrymandering.

The association announced Friday that the television commercials would run as part of the party’s unrig the map initiative. Between $4 million and $6 million will be spent on the Ohio ads, which will run from Sept. 18 through Election Day, Nov. 6, said David Turner, deputy communications director of the governor’s association.

District lines for congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn to reflect changing population every 10 years — just after the U.S. census is completed.

Whichever party is in power in statehouses across the country has traditionally drawn the districts to maximize their partisan advantage. Democrats contend, however, after their blowout in 2010, Republicans have used modern technology to redraw political maps in a way that disenfranchises voters to an unprecedented extent.

“In 2012, Democratic congressional candidates won 1.4 million more votes than Republicans — but Republicans easily won control of the House of Representatives,” the Unrig the Map website says. “Why? Because Republican governors and state legislators implemented a stateby-state plan in 2010 to gerrymander legislative districts with hyperpartisan maps.”

Rather that directly support redistricting reform efforts such as that in Ohio, the Unrig the Map campaign seeks to elect Democratic governors to lead redistricting efforts.

In Ohio, there’s a hard-fought battle for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Running are former U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, former U.S. Rep. and Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich, Ohio Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman, and former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill.

The winner of the May 8 primary will face either Mike DeWine, the Republican attorney general, or Mary Taylor, the Republican lieutenant governor.