The 7th Senate District represented by Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, will encompass a portion of Butler County. In addition, the House districts in Butler County may see a shift as portions of Middletown and Monroe that are now parts of the 53rd and 55th districts would become part of district currently represented by state Rep. Peter Beck, R-Mason.
The areas picked up by Beck and Jones were deleted from the 53rd House District represented by Tim Derickson, R-Oxford, and 4th Senate District represented by Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp.
The current 54th District held by Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, would become the 51st District while the district represented by Margaret Conditt, R-Liberty Twp., would switch from the 55th to the 52nd under the proposal.
Democratic leaders in Butler and Warren Counties feel the GOP used its majority on the board to solidify and strengthen their districts and continued rule at the Statehouse.
Kathy Wyenandt, Butler County Democratic Central Committee chairwoman, said politics came before the people.
“We think it’s a clear case of gerrymandering and a further illustration of the Republicans overarching plan to dilute and suppress the vote of Democrats,” she said. “I think their intention is to solidify their foothold in Columbus and Washington and put their priorities ahead of the people.”
Bethe Goldenfield, Warren County Democratic Party chairwoman, agreed with Wyenandt that partisan politics was the GOP’s priority.
While Goldenfield conceded that the boundary changes won’t change Warren County in to a “blue county” anytime in the foreseeable future, she believes statewide the new boundaries “were drawn specifically to help Republicans.”
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell, who steps down as the county’s GOP Executive Committee Chairman today, said the new boundaries won’t have a substantial affect on Warren County.
“A lot of people spent a lot of time on this,” he said. “We knew there were going to be changes, but there wasn’t anything objectionable.”
Butler County Treasurer Nancy Nix, vice president of the Middletown Area Republican Club, said Wednesday she has inspected the new boundaries enough to comment.
However, she said there’s “more significance” to being a part of the 7th Senate District with Jones as the GOP’s Majority Whip.
Meanwhile, Beck’s new district includes Middletown’s 4th Ward and portions of the 2nd ward as well as portions of Monroe and Union Twp.; Lebanon; and all of Deerfield and Turtlecreek Twps.
State Rep. Ron Maag, R-Salem Twp., lost a portion of Hamilton County but will represent the remainder of Warren County that is not in Beck’s district that will include Franklin and Clearcreek Twp.
Before the change, Beck represented only the Warren County portion of Middletown.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to building more relationships in Middletown and to serve them the best I can,” Beck said. “The way I look at it, this is a good opportunity. It seemed like a natural fit and I thought it would be a natural transition.”
Staff Writers William Hershey, Ken McCall and Lynn Hulsey contributed to this report. Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or erichter@coxohio.com.
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