Draw the Line in Ohio: How One State's Fight for Fair Maps Explains Gerrymandering in America

Say the word "gerrymandering" to even a partially informed U.S. voter and their blood pressure rises. They've seen the maps with amphibian-like shapes and the jokes on viral late-night clips. They know gerrymandering is bad. Few, however, fully understand what it is, how it works, how we got here, or what we can do about it.

Draw the Line in Ohio by legal analyst Rory Riley Topping and Washington correspondent Josh Rultenberg offers a grounded, firsthand overview of unfair redistricting through the story of Ohio's recent gerrymandering fight. The battlecame to a head after the 2022 repeal of Roe vs. Wade, driving national headlines, including political scandals, special elections, backroom deals, and an eventual expansion of partisan power. At the center was a 2015 constitutional amendment that promised to make the state's redistricting process less partisan and more transparent. A promise that Ohioans and voters nationwide would see broken. Through interviews with the Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC), prominent politicians, advocates, and academics, Topping and Rultenberg break down legal cases and political maneuvers to help the average American understand exactly how, and why, gerrymandering is a chief cause of political corruption.

Written with clear, accessible language, and enlivened by smart analogies from the world of pop culture and sports, Draw the Line in Ohio keeps readers engaged and entertained - and brings well-timed levity to unpack what is arguably one of the greatest existential threats to US democracy. This thorough and thoughtful book also provides concrete proof that even when up against seemingly insurmountable odds, the most powerful person in any state isn't one of its legislative leaders; it's the voters when they speak up and use every tool available to defend democracy.

Author: Rory Riley Topping,Josh Rultenberg
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 09/15/2026
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.67d
ISBN: 9781493098033

About the Author
Rory Riley Topping is an attorney and on-air legal analyst with experience in all three branches of the federal government in Washington, D.C., as well as litigation counsel for a national non-profit organization. She brings a deep understanding of the innerworkings of government to her legal analysis and writing. Her writing has appeared in The Hill, Medium, the Stanford Law & Policy Review, and more, and has been cited by famed jurist Richard Posner in his book Reflections on Judging. She was awarded the Hart T. Mankin Distinguished Service Award by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for her institutional history book about the court. Topping is a regularly invited guest speaker at national conferences, and her commentary is frequently sought out on national television and radio. She lives in New England with her family.

Josh Rultenberg is a former on-air Washington correspondent. Prior to his time in D.C., Josh was Spectrum News 1 Ohio's Statehouse reporter from 2020 to 2022. He continuously broke news about the inner workings of the then newly formed Ohio Redistricting Committee's legislative and congressional map making process, and his live-tweets proved to be a definitive index and timeline for future court cases and historical records.