Kansas Republican redistricting plan splits Kansas City metro, dilutes Democratic vote

Kansas Republicans want to split Wyandotte County between two Congressional districts for the first time since the 80s.

The map, which splits the majority-minority county down the middle, was unveiled during House and Senate Redistricting committee meetings Tuesday. It was introduced alongside several other options and is based on population shifts recorded by the 2020 Census.

The proposal from Republican representatives, who largely control redistricting in Kansas, appears to dismiss pleas from Johnson and Wyandotte County residents to keep the core of the Kansas City metro intact. Additionally, they seem to swing the political balance in Kansas 3rd Congressional District (composed of Johnson and Wyandotte counties and part of Miami County) toward the GOP, endangering Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids.

A new congressional map is needed to account for population growth in the Kansas suburbs. According to census data, the 3rd District as currently constituted would exceed the federally mandated size by about 44,000 people. It means that keeping the entirety of Johnson and Wyandotte counties together is not possible.

Rep. Chris Croft, an Overland Park Republican and chair of the House redistricting committee, said he didn’t consider political breakdowns when developing his map and noted that lawmakers could pick from any of the four maps released Tuesday or a completely different option when they ultimately vote.

“We actually have to wait until it’s all said and done until the comments to see what are all the impacts there,” Croft said. “I wouldn’t judge it right now until you hear everything about all the maps.”

Kansas is among the last states in the country to launch its decennial redistricting, which must be finished by the end of the Legislative session. Any maps lawmakers agree to will have to be approved by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Or, the GOP supermajority will need to secure two-thirds of the Legislature to override a gubernatorial veto.

The state’s current congressional map was drawn by courts after lawmakers failed to agree on a redistricting proposal in 2012. The Kansas House is scheduled to hold hearings on the maps Thursday.

Croft’s map was also endorsed later Tuesday by Senate Republican leaders. It represents a dramatic departure from Kansas’ existing congressional lines.

The proposal, Croft said, was based on feedback he received over the course of the last several months but declined to say what specifically guided his decisions.

It keeps the entirety of Johnson and Miami counties in the 3rd District while adding on Franklin and Anderson Counties. Wyandotte County would be cut along Interstate 70 with the northern piece moving to the Kansas 2nd District, currently represented by Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner.

The map also removed most of Lawrence from the 2nd, combining the left-leaning college town with much of Western and Central Kansas in the 1st District.

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes said the map of District 2 resembled a “salamander.”

“I’m not sure the map would pass muster and I think we are really dividing up some of the minority groups,” Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, said. “It looks like it has been gerrymandered for a significant party’s benefit.”

But Senate President Ty Masterson argued it maintained communities of interest by pairing Kansas’ two biggest college towns, Lawrence and Topeka. Additionally, he said they honored requests from Johnson County residents to keep the county whole.

“You can’t put all of Johnson and Wyandotte together anymore so you have to choose,” Masterson, an Andover Republican, said. “I think it has some other significant advantages while maintaining fairness.”

Along with pairing the two biggest college towns, the move would shift Democratic voters from the second district to the first district, potentially keeping both seats safely in Republican hands as more Democratic voters are added to the second district by splitting Wyandotte County.

The map would split up Wyandotte County for the first time since federal judges ordered it reunited in 1982.

“Back 30 or 40 years ago they did this, Wyandotte County was split between two congressional districts and Rep. Bill Reardon worked very hard to get Wyandotte County put back together,” Mike Taylor, a lobbyist for Concerned Voters of Wyandotte County, said. “It would be unacceptable to split Wyandotte County into two pieces. It would truly dilute that vote.”

Rep. Kyle Hoffman, a Coldwater Republican, introduced a second map option that fully separated Wyandotte and Johnson, placing Wyandotte in Kansas’ 1st District.

Hoffman said he based his map off a widely criticized proposal that passed the House in the 2012 redistricting process.

“I’m not really introducing it because I’m in love with it. It’s more of a map to give us an idea and a baseline of what was done in 2012,” Hoffman said.

Nearly identical proposals from KCK Democrat Tom Burroughs and the League of Women Voters also stretched the first district from the Colorado to Missouri border. Those maps left Wyandotte and Johnson Counties combined while placing much of Southeast Kansas in the first district.

The goal, Burroughs said, was to prepare for growing population in Kansas’ urban centers.

“We have an urban core that has a different industry than the rural communities have,” Burroughs said. “We’ve seen the exodus of population moving towards the northeast and the south central part of our state.”

Political stakes

The political stakes for Davids – the only Democrat in Kansas’ Congressional delegation — are high.

She is among a group of about two dozen Democrats who are considered “front liners,” meaning they are the front line if Democrats hope to keep their thin majority in Congress in 2022.

Davids’ potentially competitive race – which is shaping up as a rematch with Republican Amanda Adkins, who lost by 10 points in 2020 – has brought special attention from the Biden administration. First Lady Jill Biden has visited and Davids has been included in the president’s phone calls with key House members as he attempts to push his agenda through Congress.

Her campaign announced Tuesday that it raised $2.8 million in 2021 and had $2.3 million on hand for her reelection bid.

But Biden’s popularity has dropped significantly over the past year, damaged by surging COVID-19 cases, global supply chain shortages and rising inflation. His approval rating has become a cause of concern for Democrats who represent the type of suburban areas, like Kansas Third Congressional District, that helped Biden defeat former President Donald Trump.

Brian Amos, a political science professor at Wichita State University, said the proposed map would likely favor Davids in a neutral or strong Democratic year but would make things difficult in 2022.

“They could have gone more extreme on making that a Republican district or a safe Republican district,” Amos said. “It looks like they split the middle of retaining some of the district core and not splitting up counties too much but still making it a little bit more difficult for Davids.”

Tom Witt, executive Director for Equality Kansas, said he worried that splitting Wyandotte would dilute the voice of LGBTQ Kansans by creating a less tenable situation for Davids.

“It looks like it could be real hard for an openly lesbian member of congress to get reelected if that is the district that passes,” Witt said.

Ellie Turner, a spokeswoman for Davids’ congressional campaign did not directly address whether the new maps would affect her electoral chances.

“Rep. Davids remains focused on representing the people of the Kansas Third in Congress, working to lower costs for families and ensure everyone is included in our economic recovery from the pandemic,” Turner said.