The New Yorker: State legislatures are torching democracy
Political scientist David Niven calls Ohio “The Hindenburg of democracy”
In an article in The New Yorker, David Niven is featured as an expert on how Ohio ranks high as one of the top states with a Republican foothold in the state legislature. This, he says, is due to the gerrymandering of electoral maps – as evidenced by the Ohio abortion legislation following the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v Wade.
“It doesn’t have a voter base to support a total abortion ban, yet that’s a likely outcome,” concluding that “Ohio has become the Hindenburg of democracy,” Niven, an associate professor in UC’s School of Public and International Affairs, told the publication.
The article explains how Ohio became one of the most fiercely fought battleground states in Presidential politics, but how little attention is paid to election at the state level. “Ohio is about the second most gerrymandered statehouse in the country,” he said.
Niven recently commented in USA Today that state supreme courts are something of the hidden giant of American politics that have enormous effects on policy outcomes and yet they’re given almost no thought by the average voter. Turnout, he said, often suffers from "runoff," where voters make selections in other races but skip the lesser-known judicial elections.
Niven is a trusted academic resource on local, regional and national politics. His research focus is on political campaigns, gerrymandering, political communication and death penalty policy.
UC’s School of Public and International Affairs was created out of the former Department of Political Science, which dates to 1914. Experts from the school are regularly cited in national and international media outlets.
The school is widely known for having academic experts in all aspects of the political realm and Niven is a trusted media source often cited for having his finger on the pulse of American politics.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.