TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly rejected a Republican-drawn congressional map on Thursday that would have split Wyandotte County, diluting minority voting strength in the Kansas City region.
The decision will trigger a veto override attempt in the GOP-controlled Legislature.
The Democratic governor criticized lawmakers for failing to heed their own guidelines for decennial redistricting and the constitutional requirements for fair maps. The decision to divide Kansas's only majority-minority county, Kelly said, came "without explanation."
"The process of drawing districts each decade is the core to ensuring that all Kansans have the opportunity to participate in their government and have their voices heard," Kelly said, in a statement explaining her first veto of the year. "I am ready to work with the Legislature in a bipartisan fashion to pass a new congressional map that addresses the constitutional issues in Senate Bill 355."
The plan returns to the Legislature, where House and Senate GOP leadership have already signaled plans to attempt an override of the veto.
Prospects for reversing Kelly's veto are uncertain. The Senate was one vote shy of a veto-proof majority when it approved the map, but two GOP senators were absent. In the House, five additional votes are needed for an override. Four Republican representatives were absent in the initial vote and two chose to vote present rather than yes or no.
If the veto is not sustained, lawsuits to challenge the map are certain to follow, attorneys and advocates say.
The results of the 2020 Census made changes inevitable in Kansas' 3rd District, which encompasses the Kansas City Metro. Johnson and Wyandotte counties combined exceed the legally mandated size for by 44,000.
The 3rd is the only one of Kansas' four congressional seats held by a Democrat, Rep. Sharice Davids. Democrats have long anticipated Republicans would attempt to gerrymander Davids out of office.
While Democrats and non-partisan voting rights groups advocated for a map that carved southern and western portions of Johnson County away from the 3rd, Republican leadership took a different route.
Under the approved "ad astra" map, the 3rd Congressional District stretches south through Miami, Franklin and Anderson counties. The map splits Wyandotte County along Interstate 70, shifting the north half to the 2nd District, represented by Republican Jake LaTurner, and moving Lawrence, a left-leaning college town, to the vast 1st District, which takes in western and central Kansas.
While Miami, Franklin and Anderson counties have experienced exurban growth, they remain far more rural in nature than Johnson and Wyandotte Counties.
Anthony Mersman, an Anderson County commissioner, said last week he saw the decision to group his rural county with the KC Metro as a political move that dismissed the needs of his county. When asked whether Anderson County held anything in common with Johnson, Mersman laughed.
"If it has anything to do with trying to make it the same between Johnson County and Anderson County you know that ain't going to work," Mersman said. "The only people from Johnson County that come down to Anderson County are driving down the highway and they happen to go through because they've got to go to Oklahoma to the basketball game."
Don Stottlemire, a Franklin County Commissioner, agreed.
"These two areas have totally different ideas on how to function as a government. Franklin County needs to remain in a district with more rural ideas," he said in an email.
Court Challenges
If Kelly's veto is not sustained the map is likely to result in court challenges.
The proposal cuts Kansas' only majority-minority county down the middle, reducing the voting power of minority voters in Kansas City, Kansas.
A federal court could throw out the maps if it deems the Legislature has gerrymandered district lines on the basis of race.
The map could also be vulnerable to a state-level challenge that lawmakers gerrymandered for political reasons, said Mark Johnson, a Kansas City attorney who works on voting rights cases. The argument could be made, he said, that the maps violate the state constitution by denying Kansans the right to vote and consult with the government.
"If the defense to (the split of Wyandotte County) is while race or ethnicity had nothing to do with it, then what did?" Johnson said. "I think it indicates that politics had to do with it and that could be indicated by the almost equal split between Dems and Republicans."
"What they've done with Lawrence is political gerrymandering, I don't think there's a question about it."
Under the plan, Davids' district would be split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, according to data on Dave's Redistricting, a public access map creation and analysis tool. Splitting the strongly Democratic community in Wyandotte County creates a potentially tough race in an election year when Republicans are favored to take control of the House of Representatives.
Davids office has said little about the process but in campaign materials has emphasized the risk the map poses to the second-term Democrat.
"With the midterm election approaching fast, the stakes are higher than ever when it comes to fighting voter suppression tactics, and we have no time to waste," a fundraising email said.
The Star's Jonathan Shorman contributed reporting.
