Area voters are in a new US Congressional District this year

There's a new U.S. congressman for residents of Richland, Ashland and Crawford counties, and the updated district map will first come into play at the polls this election.

The new map moves U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and his fourth district from Crawford County to Richland and Ashland counties.

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Crawford County is now part of the fifth district, a seat held by U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green.

Richland County had previously been split between the seventh and twelfth congressional districts and Ashland County had previously been entirely in the seventh district.

The Ohio Supreme Court won't decide whether the Republican-crafted congressional district map violates anti-gerrymandering rules in the Ohio Constitution until after the primary, the Columbus Dispatch has reported.

Jim Jordan's district has moved

Latta was elected to his current term in the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2020.

This year, he is running unopposed on the Republican ticket, according to Kim Rudd, director of the Crawford County Board of Elections.

Residents of the county helped elect Jordan to another term in congress in 2020, but now he no longer represents them.

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"The whole county was the fourth and now we're the fifth," Rudd said.

Although Latta has no challenger from within his party, he will face opposition this fall.

The Democrat primary features a race between Martin Heberling III and Craig Swartz.

"Whoever wins on the Democrat side will run against Latta in November," Rudd said.

Two Democrats trying to unseat Jordan

Richland County is no longer split between two different congressional districts, according to Matt Finfgeld, director of the Richland County Board of Elections.

He has had voters ask him this week when the switch would take place, not realizing that Richland and Ashland counties have both been in the fourth district since early March.

It might be a change for younger voters, but the new districts are a closer alignment to the map that was in place prior to 2012.

"Jim Jordan did used to represent this area," Finfgeld said. "He was on the ballot in 2010."

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Jordan is running unopposed in the GOP primary, but will face one of two Democrats — Jeffrey Sites and Tamie Wilson — who are running in their party's primary this spring.

Despite the change in the district map, voters will still report their assigned voting location as normal.

"There's nothing else they need to do," Finfgeld said.

ztuggle@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Area voters are in a new US Congressional District this year