TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday recommended the Kansas Legislature gather public testimony about Republican plans to redraw the state’s four congressional districts to disadvantage Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids in the next election.
“I am calling on legislative leadership to host town halls prior to circulating a petition for a special session,” Kelly said in a statement. “Kansans must be offered the opportunity to express their opinions directly to their representatives, as they have during previous redistricting processes.”
The Republican-led Legislature convened 18 public sessions in 2021 in advance of the House and Senate votes in 2022 to reconfigure U.S. House district boundaries. That congressional map was expected to be in place for a decade, but President Donald Trump applied pressure on Kansas and other states to perform mid-decade redistricting in an attempt to swell the ranks of GOP members in the U.S. House after the 2026 election cycle.
Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, both Wichita-area Republicans seeking election to statewide offices, have contemplated convening a special session in November to work on maps that would split moderate voters of Johnson County among multiple congressional districts.
The political objective would be to make the 3rd District, which is represented by Davids and anchored by Johnson and Wyandotte counties, more winnable for Republican candidates. At the same time, the districts of GOP U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann, Derek Schmidt and Ron Estes would lose a portion of their Republican edge in terms of registered voters.
The petition route
Kelly said she wouldn’t call a special session for the purpose of redistricting. Masterson and Hawkins have the option of gathering petition signatures from two-thirds of Senate and House members to compel a special session of the Legislature. Currently, Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers and numerically could reach that threshold.
The Democratic governor said discussions about a special session and congressional redistricting “must be brought out from behind closed doors and into the public domain.”
In 2021, then-House Speaker Ron Ryckman said redistricting in Kansas should be viewed as a multi-year process that included town halls to gauge what Kansas wanted to see in terms of adjustments to district boundaries. The Olathe Republican insisted at that time the process should allow for “additional public input” beyond views of legislators.
In 2022, Masterson said it was important to keep a united Johnson County at the core of the 3rd District held by Davids.
In the wake of Trump’s call on Kansas to shift its congressional boundaries, Masterson said his consideration of redistricting wouldn’t be connected to his quest to secure Trump’s endorsement in the upcoming governor’s race. While Masterson is among GOP candidates for governor, Hawkins is running for state insurance commissioner.
Kelly said Kansas lawmakers ought to adhere to precedent and offer robust in-person and online public comment options.
She said residents of Johnson County should have a voice in planning an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting of U.S. House boundaries, especially when that action could be taken without referencing new census data needed to divide the population into four districts.
“I do not agree with mid-decade redistricting based on old data and a clearly partisan agenda,” Kelly said in a statement.
Leadership tussle
Masterson and Hawkins said they were puzzled Kelly opposed redistricting in Kansas but encouraged redistricting in Democrat-led states such as California in response to action by Republican-controlled states such as Texas. Kelly chairs the Democratic Governors Association.
“Governor Kelly’s recent statements on Kansas redistricting are hypocritical at best,” Masterson said. “She has strongly supported partisan redistricting in California, yet opposes redrawing Kansas’ maps to better reflect the will of most Kansans.”
In terms of redistricting in Kansas, Hawkins added: “To quote the governor, ‘there is a bigger risk in doing nothing.’ It is certainly an issue we are considering seriously.”
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes and House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, both Democrats from Johnson County, echoed Kelly’s opposition to a special session and support for hearings on redistricting.
“This push for redistricting is a blatant attempt to curry favor with Trump and boost GOP political ambitions, not to serve Kansans,” Woodard said. “If Republican leadership wants a costly special session, they should have the courage to discuss it with the public first. Kansas Democratic leadership is prepared to assist in organizing these meetings to ensure transparency throughout the discussions.”
