Ohio is the quintessential swing state, with Obama winning the state in 2008 by 51.5% to 46.9% for McCain and 1.6% third-party candidates. Nevertheless, our current Congressional delegation is 5 Democrats and 13 Republicans, without any extreme gerrymandering. There are a few subtle tricks that the Republicans used the last time, splitting urban Democratic areas and adding enough rural and suburban Republican areas to them to make a district marginally Republican. We are losing two districts this time, and the stated goal of the Republicans (who control the process) is to squeeze out two of the remaining Democrats.
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