{"id":17859,"date":"2025-11-29T06:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T06:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=17859"},"modified":"2025-11-29T06:01:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T06:01:02","slug":"redistricting-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/29\/redistricting-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Redistricting Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Donald Perryman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Rev. Donald L. Perryman, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

The Truth Contributor<\/p>\n

Politics is choosing.<\/em><\/strong>\u2014 Paul Val\u00e9ry<\/em><\/p>\n

I, for one, am not convinced that the redistricting deal the Democrats accepted\u2014 one which grants Republicans a nine percent structural advantage in the 9th<\/sup> Congressional District\u2014 was a caving in or a sellout. After all, reality is unforgiving of purity tests.<\/p>\n

Yes, Ohio Democrats agreed to a compromise that shifted two districts somewhat toward the right. But as political analyst Nate Cohn notes: these changes \u201caren\u2019t likely to yield the two new Republican districts that had\u00a0been expected, let alone the three that conservatives wanted.\u201d\u00a0In other words, the deal was imperfect \u2014 not catastrophic. Moreover, it\u00a0offers\u00a0Democrats a fighting chance for incumbents like Marcy Kaptur.<\/p>\n

Yet criticism has been swift and sharp, with some already dismissing Kaptur\u2019s prospects and faulting Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio and House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn for supporting maps granting Republicans an advantage in 12 of Ohio\u2019s 15 congressional districts until 2031.<\/p>\n

However, context is important. This compromise did not erase Kaptur’s electoral advantages; it simply removed some of the gerrymandered padding that Republicans might have gained. In Cohn\u2019s assessment, Ohio Democrats \u201caverted a disaster\u201d while \u201ckeeping the districts competitive enough that Democratic incumbents can still win.\u201d That\u2019s the essence of compromise: minimizing losses while preserving opportunity. In contrast, a concession is a unilateral surrender \u2014 and that is not what happened here.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s worth noting the climate in which this compromise occurred. A recent Politico poll shows that voters in both parties are increasingly comfortable with partisan redistricting \u2014 not to ensure fairness, but to gain\u00a0a strategic advantage. In other words, both Democrats and Republicans have accepted \u201cmap manipulation as a way of life,\u201d raising the risk of eroding democratic principles in the process. In that environment, pragmatic negotiation often is the only way to avoid punitive outcomes. Thus, this deal reflects that reality.<\/p>\n

Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde sees it the same way, emphasizing, \u201cWe are confident that Congresswoman Kaptur can win even in a more difficult district \u2026 Her district has\u00a0been gerrymandered before, and she\u2019s won even in very tough election cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio stressed, \u201cThis is not the congressional map that Ohioans\u00a0deserve;\u00a0however, I do believe with this map we have averted a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, as for voters on the ground, it\u2019s a matter of trust and long-term relationships: Joe Stallbaum, a Toledo sheet metal worker, put it\u00a0simply: \u201cI always felt that Marcy listened to working-class people \u2026 She doesn\u2019t seem distant \u2026 I trust her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, the math still favors Democrats in several ways. Even with the compromise, the 9th district contains a strong base of long-term supporters. As Party leaders and voters on the ground alike have pointed out, Kaptur has won in reconfigured districts several times before, and her incumbency, name recognition, and record of constituent service remain significant advantages. Notwithstanding, historically, the president\u2019s party loses seats after midterms, so a potential blue rebound in 2026 could create opportunities for campaigns like Kaptur\u2019s.<\/p>\n

So, for Democratic voters frustrated by the optics, it\u2019s\u00a0essential\u00a0to understand the strategic calculus. A hard-line fight over redistricting could have led to costly litigation, unpredictable results, or a map fully favoring Republicans. By negotiating a compromise, Democrats preserved a path to victory, kept incumbents viable, and avoided the risk of handing over seats for free.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s imperfect. Yes, some will see it as betrayal. But politics is rarely pure\u2014 it\u2019s pragmatic. Redistricting is a game of inches, and for Democrats, the 9th district remains winnable, a reminder that \u201cstrategic\u201d compromise can preserve opportunity rather than destroy it.<\/p>\n

Marcy Kaptur\u2019s fight isn\u2019t over. With her record, her voters, and careful campaign planning, she may well turn this \u201ccompromise\u201d into a 2026 victory\u2014far from a betrayal, it is smart politics, grounded in reality.<\/p>\n

Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, PhD, at <\/em>drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rev. Donald L. Perryman, Ph.D. The Truth Contributor Politics is choosing.\u2014 Paul Val\u00e9ry I, for one, am not convinced that the redistricting deal the Democrats accepted\u2014 one which grants Republicans a nine percent structural advantage in the 9th Congressional District\u2014 was a caving in or a sellout. After all, reality is unforgiving of purity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,252],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[322],"class_list":["post-17859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-opinion","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17860,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17859\/revisions\/17860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17859"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=17859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}