Rory Riley Topping & Josh Rultenberg — Draw the Line in Ohio: How One State's Fight for Fair Maps Explains Gerrymandering in America - with Dasha Burns
Rory Riley Topping and Josh Rultenberg discuss *Draw the Line in Ohio*, their account of Ohio’s struggle over fair electoral maps and what that fight reveals about gerrymandering across the United States. Moderated by Leigh Ann Caldwell, the conversation explores how redistricting shapes political power, why gerrymandering persists, and how voters can challenge it.
The book follows Ohio’s redistricting conflict, which intensified after the 2022 repeal of *Roe v. Wade* and generated political scandals, special elections, court battles, and behind-the-scenes negotiations. Topping and Rultenberg examine a 2015 constitutional amendment intended to make Ohio’s mapmaking process more transparent and less partisan, and explain how that promise was undermined. Drawing on interviews with members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission, politicians, advocates, and scholars, they translate the legal and political maneuvering into accessible terms and argue that gerrymandering is a major driver of political corruption. The discussion also considers how voters can use available democratic and legal tools to defend fair representation.
Topping is an attorney and on-air legal analyst who has worked across all three branches of the federal government and served as litigation counsel for a national nonprofit. Her writing has appeared in *The Hill*, *Medium*, and the *Stanford Law & Policy Review*, among other publications, and she is a frequent speaker and television and radio commentator.
Rultenberg is a former Washington correspondent who previously covered the Ohio Statehouse for Spectrum News 1 from 2020 to 2022. He reported extensively on the Ohio Redistricting Commission’s legislative and congressional mapmaking process, and his contemporaneous social-media reporting became a reference point for subsequent court cases and historical accounts.
Caldwell, the conversation’s moderator, is Puck’s chief Washington correspondent. She previously worked at *The Washington Post* and NBC’s congressional unit, where her reporting earned multiple awards, including an Emmy for coverage of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. She has covered every presidential and midterm election since 2008 and regularly appears on television, radio, podcasts, and streaming programs.
When: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Showtimes: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Politics and Prose at The Wharf, 610 Water St. SW, Washington, DC 20024
Tickets: Free
Seating: First come, first served.
Lineup: Rory Riley Topping and Josh Rultenberg, in conversation with Leigh Ann Caldwell.
Ages: No age restriction is stated.
Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. The organizers will try to accommodate requests made up to the event time.
Related book: *Draw the Line in Ohio: How One State’s Fight for Fair Maps Explains Gerrymandering in America* is a paperback published September 15, 2026. The listed price is $24.95.