Thread by @DavidPepper

THREAD

Through persistence & focus, Ohio has made huge gains to combat gerrymandering as we hit the re-districting year

1) Activists, good government groups & @OHDems pushed and passed 2 successful Const amendments that enacted restrictions to stop partisan gerrymandering.

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https://twitter.com/allontheline_oh/status/1324444843364536321

2) Knowing that the Ohio Supreme Court will hear direct challenges to any attempt to defy these new restrictions, and that past courts had upheld egregious gerrymandering, @OHDems then prioritized Ohio Sup Court races, and took the Court from 0-7 to 3-4 in the past two years.

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This included ousting two incumbent Justices in two years, no easy task, with Justice @Stewart4OhioSC and Justice-elect @JenniferBrunner doing so through absolutely perfect campaigns and Democrats all over Ohio voting through their entire sample ballot

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4) With a 4th justice, Chf Just. O'Connor having come "down against the current maps in 2011, with less restrictive constitutional language than the reforms put in place," there is now a check on any legislative attempt to ignore the new restrictions.

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ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/11/04/tak…

5) These changes create 2 scenarios:

a) the legislature now draws the new maps knowing, for the first time in decades, there is a true independent court that will provide a check on their work

We can only hope this prompts them to follow the new rules and draw fair maps.

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or:

b) if the legislature still insists on gerrymandering despite the restrictions, a challenge can be filed directly to the court, with certainty that we finally have an independent court to protect the new reforms and stand against attempts to thwart them.

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Bottom line: over several years, a combination of activists, good government reformers, Democratic volunteers, awesome candidates, and outside national groups like @DemRedistrict and leaders like @EricHolder , have helped Ohio achieve major (unthinkable) structural reform...

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...on perhaps the single biggest reason that Ohio's legislative politics have become such a cesspool of right wing extremism and corruption.

In short, new, fair maps after 2020 will be a major step in forging a better, fairer and more functional politics in Columbus.

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This isn't high profile or sexy stuff.

But the reason Karl Rove swooped in late to try to save a Justice who had pledged to be the "backstop" of the GOP legislature, against @JenniferBrunner , is because the national right wing knew the stakes. They've known it for years.

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And tx to incredible teamwork & candidates, we all knew it too, we fought back, and we beat them

So much to do, but this multi-year effort to reform OH's Constitution & enshrine a fair court is the type of structural change that will pay dividends for years to come

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And finally, by pushing a new discipline in Democrats voting all the way through their ballots, we achieved something else the other day.

We won court races all around Ohio, up and down the ballot.

Women candidates in particular had a huge day...

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...and with a number of pick-ups, Democrats now hold HALF(!) the appellate seats in the state of Ohio. We are looking into the last time that was the case.

We also picked up large numbers of local judicial seats, adding far better representation in our court system.

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Beyond gerrymandering, these gains mean a better justice system throughout Ohio, and a strong "bench" of candidates for years to come so we can keep building on these gains.

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So from @BettySutton to @GingerForJudge to @KBforJudge to @AlisonHatheway and many more, to all those who supported them & passed out sample ballots everywhere, thanks to all who worked so hard to make this incredibly important change happen.

Ohio will be better for it.

END