Today’s Elections Set Ohio Tossup Matchups: Ballots & Boundaries

Keep an eye on the 9th District as returns come in from tonight’s congressional primaries in Ohio.

The top Republican contenders in that race are state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, who’s backed by the Chamber of Commerce, and state Rep. Craig Riedel, whose supporters include Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. That’s a noteworthy endorsement, in part because Jordan could be a contender for Speaker in a Republican-led House and partly because of information gathered by the committee examining the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

The winner will face 20-term Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) — the longest-serving woman in the history of the House. Her turf was redrawn to be a lot more Republican-friendly, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates her November race a tossup.

Other tossups are brewing in the 13th District in and around Akron and Canton and down in Cincinnati, where Rep. Steve Chabot (R) has a less GOP-friendly seat than he’s used to.

We’re also watching a Democratic primary in Ohio’s 11th District, a Democratic bastion in and around Cleveland. Rep. Shontel Brown, backed by the party establishment and pro-Israel groups, faces former state Sen. Nina Turner, an ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders(I-Vt.). It’s a rematch of last year’s special primary though redistricting changed the constituency.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE: BOOMERANG MAP
Coming back again: a New Hampshire congressional map that the state House narrowly rejected earlier this year.

State Reps. Max Abramson (R) and Josh Adjutant (D) reintroduced a proposal that would reconfigure New Hampshire’s two districts, now both held by Democrats, to be about equally competitive.

“We now think we have the votes,” Adjutant said in an e-mail. — Greg Giroux

COLORADO: VOTER INTIMIDATION
A voter intimidation lawsuit against a group falsely claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election is moving forward after a Colorado federal judge declined to dismiss the Voting Rights Act case on standing grounds.

The plaintiffs—affiliates of the NAACP and League of Women Voters, along with Mi Familia Vota—have organizational standing to sue the pro-Trump U.S. Election Integrity Plan and related defendants under the Voting Rights Act, Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado held. The organizations adequately alleged they were forced to divert resources from their primary activities to monitor and combat the defendants’ purportedly unlawful activities, Brimmer said.

The defendant election group disputed the NAACP’s standing, arguing that any actions it took were “volitional” and “a product of fear rather than actual injury.” — Jacklyn Wille

NEW YORK: ASSEMBLY LINES
When New York’s highest court tossed out the redistricting done to congressional and state Senate lines, it was a victory for Republicans. Now they want more.

The head of the New York Young Republican Club filed a motion with the state Supreme Court asking that the newly drawn Assembly district lines be discarded, too. An upstate businessman has said he also wants to challenge the Assembly maps in court.

Because of the litigation, New York’s on track for two primaries, one for the Assembly and statewide races on June 28, and one for the state Senate and congressional races on Aug. 23. Democrats, in a last-ditch effort, filed a complaint in federal court to require the June 28 congressional primary to continue as planned. — Keshia Clukey

FLORIDA: REDISTRICTING LAWSUITS
A state court will hear arguments next week on whether to block Florida’s new congressional redistricting plan from taking effect for this year’s primary and general elections. Voting rights and civil rights advocates say the map, which dismantles a district created to enable Black voters to elect their candidate of choice, violates voter-approved anti-gerrymandering provisions in the Florida Constitution.

In federal court, Common Cause Florida and Fair Districts Now argue that the map signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) intentionally discriminates against Black voters. The groups want to explore whether the plan violates the 14th and 15th amendments of the U.S. Constituion. — Jennifer Kay

ARIZONA: IT’S PERSONAL
The former CEO of Cyber Ninjas, Inc.—the now-shuttered company hired by the Arizona Senate to review the results of the 2020 election—is being held personally responsible for providing records related to the controversial audit. A judge ordered that Doug Logan and his wife, Meghan, produce documents requested under the state’s public records law.

The state Senate and Cyber Ninjas have for nearly a year fought requests for audit procedures, communications, and other information sought by The Arizona Republic and public records organization American Oversight. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp told the Logans to hand over records on a rolling basis, starting Friday. — Brenna Goth

Redistricting’s Impact: Member-vs-Member

Georgia’s 7th (D-vs-D): Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux says Rep. Lucy McBath is “helping Republicans take over the U.S. House in November” by running against her instead of in the next-door 6th District.

“Lucy has made a calculated choice that it is easier to come to fight me in the 7th than to fight Republicans in her own district,” Bourdeaux said at a candidate debate.

McBath chose to seek re-election in the strongly Democratic 7th District after Republican mapmakers reconfigured her 6th District to lean Republican. “I’m running in this race because I simply believe we should not allow Governor Kemp, the Republican Party or the NRA gun lobby to dictate who represents our communities in Washington,” McBath said at the debate.

Bourdeaux represents 57% of the people in the new 7th compared with 12% for McBath, though McBath spent millions during her 2018 and 2020 campaigns on Atlanta television ads that bled into the 7th District. — Greg Giroux

OHIO: LAST CALL
Yes, tomorrow’s the day after the primary and yes, that’s when Ohio’s redistricting commission is scheduled to meet. State legislative offices aren’t on today’s ballot and there’s a deadline later this week for the state Supreme Court to approve new lines. A federal court order set the next primary for Aug. 2. — Kenneth P. Doyle

Caught Our Eye

Tennesseans can now text voter-fraud concerns. (WKRN.com)
Judges in Denver ruled that a Colorado congressional candidate can’t use “Let’s Go Brandon” as a nickname and that Colorado state Sen. Don Coram can continue his GOP primary bid against U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. (The Denver Post and The Colorado Sun)
Some Republicans are promoting the idea that voter fraud by undocumented immigrants is a real threat. (The New York Times)
A Phoenix judge sentenced a woman to two years of felony probation, fines, and community service for voting her dead mother’s ballot in Arizona in the 2020 general election. (The Associated Press)

Finished Maps

More Resources

Princeton Gerrymandering Project
Litigation Trackers: Loyola Law School Brennan Center
Redistricting Trackers: fivethirtyeight.com, The Washington Post, redistrictingonline.org

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To contact the reporters on this story: Greg Giroux in Washington at ggiroux@bgov.com; Keshia Clukey in Albany, N.Y. at kclukey@bloomberglaw.com; Jacklyn Wille in Washington at jwille@bloomberglaw.com; Brenna Goth in Phoenix at bgoth@bloomberglaw.com; Jennifer Kay in Miami at jkay@bloomberglaw.com; Kenneth P. Doyle in Washington at kdoyle@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tina May at tmay@bloomberglaw.com; Katherine Rizzo at krizzo@bgov.com