September 14, 2011 09:38 PM UTC

Dennis Kucinich Likely Staying in Ohio

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• by: Colorado Pols

Of all of the various interesting subplots surrounding redistricting across the country, one of the more newsworthy has been the plight of 8-term Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. A darling of the far (far) left, Kucinich was in enough danger in 2012 — Ohio is losing 2 Congressional seats as a results of population loss shown in the 2010 Census — that he had been openly planning a Congressional run in Washington state. But as our partners at Hotline report, Kucinich has new life in Ohio:

A new proposal from Ohio Republicans does in fact draw [Kucinich] into a district with Rep. Marcy Kaptur, but the news isn’t so bad for the former mayor of Cleveland. The newly drawn 9th District, in which President Obama scored nearly two-thirds of the vote, would include about 60 percent of the Cleveland media market and only 40 percent of the Toledo market. That means Kucinich may have a leg up on Kaptur, whose base is in Toledo.

“It is an amazing turn of events that the legislature decided not to dismantle the district I represent,” Kucinich said in a statement last night. “I have been praying that I could continue to serve my Cleveland-area constituency and it looks like I have a chance. That is all I could have hoped for.”

Buckeye State legislators pleased Republican operatives watching the redistricting process by drawing a map many believe will lock in a 12 to four Republican advantage in the state’s Congressional delegation for a decade to come.

The redistricting news in Ohio isn’t particularly good for Democrats in general, but at least Democrats in Washington state won’t have to worry about Kucinich creating a weird Primary fight somewhere. In an email to supporters today, Kucinich indicated that he is going to be running again in Ohio:

We have a district! The race is on! In a stunning development, the redistricting gave most of the Republican part of my old district to three incumbent Republican congressmen and left most of the Democratic part of my district intact.

As a result, about 57% of registered Democrats in the new district come from my old district.

We’d have to say that we’re a little disappointed in this development — not because we have any problem with Kucinich, but because we were really curious to see if he could just move all the way across the country and win a seat in Congress. Politics is great theater, and that would have been quite a show indeed.