Juanita O. Brent for Ohio House, 18th District: endorsement editorial

Third-term state Rep. Juanita O. Brent of Cleveland calls her ever-changing Ohio House district “gerrymandered to a peak,” and no wonder.

For her fourth election, the district has been gerrymandered again, and with another new district number, to boot -- the 18th (she now represents the 22nd House District). The 18th is not much different from the 22nd except that University Heights is no longer part of it, and Woodmere and Orange Village have been added. (The district also includes Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, East Cleveland, Warrensville Heights, Highland Hills and North Randall in addition to three precincts in Cleveland.



) Many of those who live, as Brent does, in Cleveland’s Ward 1 still think they live in the 12th House District, she says -- which is what it was for many years. Luckily, she says, Brian Stewart, the Columbus-area Republican who currently represents the 12th Ohio House District, is rerouting messages and setting voters straight..