Republicans passed their Congressional Redistricting Plan through the Legislature and now an expected court battle looms over whether it would go too far in hurting the State’s only Democrat in Congress. Under the new map, Democratic U. S. Representative Sharice Davids would lose some of the neighborhoods in her Kansas City-area Third District where her support is strongest. The new lines stemmed from the need for the State’s four districts to have as close to the same number of residents as possible.
Lawmakers in both parties expect a court battle. In 2019 the U. S. Supreme Court declared whether a map is too unfair to one party is a political issue and not for the Federal Courts to decide. Democrats want to get the map before the Kansas Supreme Court, which typically doesn’t review them for a ruling on whether “gerrymandering” violates the State Constitution.
