The redistricting wars are shifting into a new arena: the courtroom.

Most states have finished their maps already, but state and federal courts will direct the drawing of some 75 congressional districts in at least seven states in the coming months, marking a new phase in the process before the first 2022 primaries begin. In the next few weeks alone, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania courts are likely to impose new maps blocking Republican legislators’ attempts to relegate Democrats to small slivers of those congressional delegations.

Taken together, the court interventions have eased Democratic fears about redistricting as they sweat over a tough midterm political environment. So far, the decisions have validated the party’s state-by-state legal strategy and, critically, offered a surprising reprieve from several Republican gerrymandering attempts before a single election could be held under the new lines.

On one hand, party leaders and strategists say there’s reason to be hopeful. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), their nominee to succeed retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), is a prolific fundraiser with an adept ability to appeal to the state’s blue-collar voters.

Recent polling shows him virtually deadlocked with his Republican rival J.D. Vance, the author and venture capitalist who carries the endorsement of former President Trump.

But Democrats are also acutely aware of Ohio’s rightward shift in recent years. Trump carried the state twice, in 2016 and 2020, and aside from former President Obama and Sen. Sherrod Brown, no Democrat has won statewide in Ohio since 2006.

“I’m just not so sure it’s a swing state anymore,” one national Democratic strategist said. “It’s not a lost cause, by any means. Tim Ryan is a solid, solid candidate. But when you take a look at where to put resources, Ohio is a tough call.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will face Democratic former Dayton mayor Nan Whaley in the November election.

DeWine defeated four Republican challengers in Tuesday’s election. Whaley easily defeated former Cincinnati mayor John Cranley for the Democratic nomination. Whaley’s victory made her the first woman ever nominated by a major party for Ohio governor.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Nan Whaley pivoted quickly to November, slamming Gov. Mike DeWine for leading a corrupt Ohio state government that bailed out nuclear plants and for not caring about average Ohioans.

Whaley faces an uphill battle to unseat the incumbent governor, but she isn’t conceding any votes even appealing to Republicans who backed former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci and farmer Joe Blystone.

A spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the office didn’t want to get dragged in last week when a fellow Republican echoed former President Donald Trump’s baseless fraud claims and called for an audit of Ohio’s 2020 election.

But the state’s top election official won’t condemn Trump or say whether he’ll support the former president if he runs again in 2024. And despite his assertion that “it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat in Ohio,” LaRose wouldn’t comment on restrictions that forced large-county voters to wait hours to cast early ballots last year.

Former state Treasurer Josh Mandel is one of many Republicans eagerly trying to take up the Trump mantle in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, who is also a Republican.

A second bill to overhaul Ohio’s election system has been proposed by some Republican state lawmakers, and this one is stricter than one introduced a few months ago that was deemed controversial by voting rights advocates.

While some states that have seen major election overhaul bills proposed were red states that President Biden won, Ohio went to Donald Trump in 2020. But this bill takes aim at some of the biggest complaints that Republicans have had.

“It would eliminate drop boxes, drastically cut early voting, and put extreme limits on voting by mail,” said Jen Miller, the executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.

Miller said House Bill 387 would eliminate secure ballot drop boxes at board of elections sites. It would cut the 28-day early voting period that’s been in place since 2014 to 13 days and then later to six days. It would bring back the requirement eliminated with the expansion of early voting to provide an excuse to ask for a mail in ballot, such as illness or extended travel. And it would ban the Secretary of State from mailing out absentee ballot applications in even year general elections, which has been happening since 2012.