Political Outcomes Over People-A Progressive Power Grab From the D.C. Deep State

Another attempted takeover of the Ohio Constitution, your political districts, and your political voice made the ballot.

Of course, the so-called “Citizens not Politicians” campaign had 200,000 signatures from their petition drive tossed, but when they fund their drive with dark money from the progressive left, then they can flood the most populated counties with signature gatherers to qualify for the ballot.

Make no mistake about what this is. It is an attempt to gerrymander power for the political far left. It's an effort organized and orchestrated from Washington, D.C. by progressive political operatives. As I told the statehouse press pool this week, “Their campaign should be called ‘Political outcomes over people.’ It is designed to gerrymander guaranteed wins for the progressive left with no accountability to the more than 70% of voters who approved the current system that produced a unanimous bipartisan set of maps for the General Assembly.”

Watch our video, featuring perspective from Senate President Matt Huffman about what would really happen with this voluminous, ambiguous and radical plan.

Read our in-depth investigation into the carpet baggers running this campaign. Find out what a disaster it was in Missouri. In fact it was so bad, voters realized the fraud it was and repealed it. A federal court in Michigan found that the maps the process produced there violated the Voting Rights Act.

Watch Auditor Keith Faber, who served on the Ohio Redistricting Commission talk about what this effort really represents during a recent President’s Podcast. The former Senate President joins current Senate President Matt Huffman to talk about all the things the left’s redistricting campaign doesn’t want you to know. What is hiding inside its voluminous proposal?

During the General Assembly’s Special Session this summer, the Democrats fought hard to protect their foreign contributions funding issue campaigns targeting the Ohio Constitution. Why would they do that when they support the law that bans them from candidate campaigns? “Citizens not Politicians” is the answer. That is why Marc Elias, who represented the NDRC, the National Democratic Redistricting Coalition, filed a lawsuit against House Bill 1 that banned foreign money for issue campaigns.

Those are the same people and organizations behind All on the Line Ohio, and the Fair Districts special interest groups that pressured statehouse Democrats not to negotiate in good faith. Instead, they opted for lawfare, and encouraged the courts to indirectly draw the maps by ordering the use of unconstitutional criteria not found in the process passed by the voters. However, following two federal court rulings, including one from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Congressional map, those groups realized they had lost, and statehouse Democrats were finally able to embrace the process. The result? A unanimous bipartisan vote, establishing constitutional, fair, and compact districts with the new General Assembly Maps that are effective for the remainder of the decade.

Voters approved Article XI in 2015 by 70%, and Article XIX in 2018 by 75% of the vote. But when the Constitution is an easy target with just a simple majority needed to pass an amendment, the progressive left, with tens of millions of dollars to burn, will launch attack after attack to change the law, and restrict your rights, and your voice. First came on demand, legalized abortion that even the left now admits applies to radical transgender treatment for children, now it's redistricting, and next will be your 2nd Amendment rights. It's a revolving door of attacks on our state's founding document.

You'll hear their well-funded, slick campaign ads talk about "representational fairness." Translated, it means results based on fixed percentages, which is the textbook definition of gerrymandering. It's important to remember that candidates, campaigns and issues matter. There are 15 Senate Districts that are indexed, or lean Democrat. Republicans won 8 of those districts. Competition is good. Voters know that. This November's ballot issue would remove competition in favor of reliable wins for progressives. 

We will continue to call this campaign out for what it really is. A Progressive Power Grab from the D.C. Deep State.