Kaptur Statement Following Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decision

Statement

Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling giving a greenlight for further partisan gerrymandering following the 2020 Census:

"Today's ruling by the Supreme Court's conservative justices undermines democratic participation for millions of Americans in Ohio and across the entire United States," said Rep. Kaptur. "They had a rare opportunity to strengthen, if not save, fair representation in our democracy and they categorically failed."

"By ruling that federal courts do not have a role in deciding partisan gerrymandering claims, the Supreme Court has opened the flood gates for extreme, partisan gerrymandering to go on completely unchecked in the United States.

"Today's ruling has direct implications for the people of Ohio. Ohio's deeply partisan districts were gerrymandered by Republicans for Republicans, not the people. They were drawn without regard for existing communities and deliberately diluted the votes of millions of voters. In 2018, 2,245,403 Ohioans voted to send a Republican representative to Congress and 2,019,120 voted to send a Democrat -- 52 percent to 47 percent. And yet only four Democrats were elected last fall, compared to 12 Republicans. Fortunately, Ohioans have already taken an important first step to implement commonsense redistricting reform when they overwhelmingly voted in favor of Issue 1 in 2018.

"While today is a setback, our fight to secure fair representation for all Americans is not over. I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the voices of the people and communities I represent are heard in their government."

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