Betty Sutton and Dennis Kucinich to be squeezed out in new congressional remap

Published: Monday, September 12, 2011, 12:23 PM Updated: Monday, September 12, 2011, 1:48 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Democrats will lose two congressional seats in Northeast Ohio under a remapping plan that will be introduced in Ohio's legislature later this week. But they will gain a new seat in Columbus that's being designed to shift Republicans who now represent the city into safer suburban seats.

Republican and Democratic sources say that in Northeast Ohio, the plan will shift Copley Democrat Betty Sutton into a largely Republican district that's being constructed to favor the re-election of freshman GOP Rep. Jim Renacci of Wadsworth.

The western Cuyahoga County power base of Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich will go into a district that snakes along Lake Erie from Toledo and is designed to favor the re-election of longtime Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

Ohio must eliminate two of its 18 congressional seats because its population is growing more slowly than other states. Republicans who took over Ohio's state legislature during the last election have control over the process.

Republicans -- who now hold 13 of Ohio's seats -- will give up one of those seats by consolidating Dayton-area turf currently represented by Mike Turner and Steve Austria into a district that includes parts of Montgomery and Fairfield counties, and all of Greene, Fayette and Pickaway counties. House Speaker John Boehner will pick up parts of Montgomery County that he does not currently represent.

To enhance the re-election prospects of Columbus-area GOP incumbents Patrick Tiberi and Steve Stivers, both their districts will be redrawn to allow creation of a new Democratic seat in Franklin County.

Sources say that Tiberi's district will stretch into Richland and Marion counties, and include all of Licking, Delaware and Morrow counties. Stivers will have a peculiarly shaped district that includes Union, Madison and some of Clark counties.

Closer to home, Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge's district in eastern Cuyahoga County will be stretched down the I-77 corridor to include parts of Akron that are predominantly African-American, preserving the state's only majority minority district.

The district represented by Bainbridge Township Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette will pick up parts of Cuyahoga County he does not currently represent, including Brecksville, Independence, Lyndhurst and Mayfield Heights.

The district Renacci represents will stretch farther north. He will lose parts of Stark County to Holmes County GOP Rep. Bob Gibbs, a freshman whose district is also shifting north as its southern portions get divided between Tiberi and Stivers. Alliance, the home of Renacci's Democratic predecessor, John Boccieri, will be shifted into the district currently represented by Niles Democrat Tim Ryan. Stark County will be split between Gibbs, Renacci and Ryan.

Republicans are also trying to strengthen the GOP leanings of the district represented by freshman Bill Johnson of Marietta, which now stretches like a string bean along the Ohio River. Johnson's new district will include Carroll, Harrison and Guernsey counties, and parts of Tuscarawas and Muskingum counties.