Ohio's 3rd congressional district

Ohio's 3rd congressional district is located entirely in Franklin County and includes most of the city of Columbus. The current district lines were drawn in 2011, following the redistricting based on the 2000 census. The district is barely contiguous. In some portions, it is almost, but not quite, split in two by the neighboring 12th and 15th districts.

It was one of several districts challenged in a 2018 lawsuit seeking to overturn Ohio's congressional map due to alleged unconstitutional gerrymandering. According to the lawsuit, "District 3 is shaped like a snowflake and fractures Franklin County and the city of Columbus." The map, drawn in private by Republican lawmakers in a Columbus hotel room, keeps only the 3rd district Democratic, with much of the rest of Columbus split into the solidly Republican 12th and 15th districts. An alternative plan was to split Columbus four ways, creating 13 safe Republican seats. In May 2019, the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati deemed the map unconstitutional, as intentionally drawn to keep Republicans in power and disenfranchise Democratic voters. The U.S. Supreme Court discarded the district court ruling in October 2019.

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