Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins stripped three Republicans of committee chairmanships for refusing to sign a petition calling for a special session to redraw congressional boundaries in a bid to block reelection of U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids.
Kansas Republicans said on Tuesday that they had not gathered enough votes to call a special session for redistricting, but the effort to make it harder for Rep. Sharice Davids to hold her seat will return next year.
Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins acknowledged Tuesday that he didn’t gather enough support from his Republican caucus to force a special session on Friday as planned.
Castle Brazil sat alone Monday night in the back of a church sanctuary in Lenexa as he processed the “insane” revelations about Republican plans for a special session on redistricting. Legislators could vote on new congressional maps as soon as Nov. 7.
Republican legislative leaders are urging lawmakers to support their push for a special session where they can both ban Kansans from altering gender markers on their driver’s licenses and redraw congressional maps.
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times
Kansas Republicans’ goal of convening a special redistricting session in November prompted U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids to dust off the playbook used to fend off the last attempt to gerrymander her out of office.
Statehouse Republicans already redrew Democrat Sharice Davids’ district in 2022. They may try again, joining the national gerrymandering battle over the U.S. House of Representatives.
The ACLU of Kansas argues the Kansas Supreme Court incorrectly interpreted federal law when it ruled race wasn’t a factor in the map drawn by the Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature.
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
The deadline to request an advance ballot by mail is Tuesday — here’s how to do that. Also, County Clerk Jamie Shew shares how his office is handling hundreds of different ballots for Douglas County voters this year after redistricting.
The Kansas Supreme Court released full opinions of decisions affirming constitutionality of new congressional and legislative district maps for use in the 2022 elections that concluded reliance on partisanship to gerrymander district boundaries wasn’t prohibited.
