7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT GOP CONGRESSMAN BOB GIBBS DEMOTED BY DEMOCRATS?

UPDATED:  February 14, 2019

LINK article:  Ohio Losing Clout in New Congress

On October 29th The Stark County Political Report traveled to Ashland, Ohio to take in the one and only debate between 7th Congressional District (which includes most of Stark County) incumbent Republican congressman Bob Gibbs (of Holmes County) and Democratic challenger Ken Harbaugh of Lorain County.

At that debate Gibbs touted his background of having been a farmer and having attained a spot on the U.S. House of Representatives Agricultural Committee when the House was controlled by Republicans.

Through the reporting of Cleveland.com (aka the Cleveland Plain District; Capitol Letter)  has learned that Gibbs appears to not only lost his Agricultural Committee seat but seems in reading an article by Capitol Letter, to wit:  (LINK to Wikipedia article on the selection of committee members)

Farm team: Holmes County GOP Rep. Bob Gibbs got bumped from the House Agriculture Committee after Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and cut the number of Republican seats on each committee. Instead, he’ll be on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform where the top Republican is Champaign County’s Jim Jordan. The former Ohio Farm Bureau Federation president will continue to have a role in setting water and environmental policies important to agriculture through his service on the Transportation Committee, Gibbs’ office said.  (emphasis added)

In re-electing Gibbs in a highly gerrymander by the Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly congressional district, 7th District voters are now at a disadvantage in getting the ear of Congress.

Here is a video of a SCPR interview of Gibbs following the Ashland debate of October 29, 2018.



Stark Countians (mainly Cantonians and Massillonians) could have weighed in with a sizeable majority Harbaugh (who spent much time campaigning in Stark and who narrowly lost to Gibbs in Stark) and thereby be in a position to have much more of the ear of Congress.

The SCPR thinks Harbaugh was a vastly superior candidate to Gibbs who had the impossible task of overcoming the highly gerrymandered 7th.

And, the highly deficient Stark County Democratic Party appeared to have done next to nothing to help the Harbaugh effort in Stark.

Besides Gibbs, neophyte 16th District congressman Anthony Gonzalez by virtue of being in the minority in Congress will not be position to weigh in effectively for those parts of Stark County (north, northwonest parts of the county) which are within the boundaries of the 16th.

Lastly, in order to get the ear of Congress, Stark Countians best opportunity to be heard in the House will be through the office of Democratic District 13 of Tim Ryan.

Ryan's seat is also gerrymander but by the supermajority Ohio Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly.  What they did was to stack a predominance of Democratic registered voters in the 13th.

Ryan is one of only four Democrats representing a congressional seat from among 16 districts.

So accordingly it appears to the SCPR the Republican legislators who drew the districts as a U.S. Constitution "every ten years" reapportionment of congressional seats nationwide likely assessed that the 13th was not a winnable through the election processes took Republican registered voters and intentionally moved marginally located Republican voters into adjoining Republican represented districts to make those seats less competitive than they had previously been.

An example is the 2003 through 2013 16th congressional district map:

After long term congressman Ralph Regula retired in 2008, Democrat John Boccieri was able to defeat well known Stark Countian and Republican Kirk Schuring (some 25 years in the Ohio General Assembly) in a district that tilted Republican but obviously winnable in certain political circumstances by a Democrat.

Compare the foregoing after the 16th's gerrymander was accentuated:

There is now a federal lawsuit (southern district of Ohio) on tap with trial scheduled for March 4th that might result in a more competitive statewide districts across the state in time for the 2020 elections.

Ohioans and Stark Countians who appreciate that political competitiveness can be an effective accountability factor upon who gets elected.