The carve-outs in Friday’s redistricting map are a blatant attempt to divide and conquer the few Democrats who exist in Kansas.
Senate Republicans approved a Congressional map that dilutes the state’s two progressive-leaning areas: Lawrence and Wyandotte County.
Republicans’ primary target is Congresswoman Sharice Davids, a Roeland Park Democrat who represents Kansas’ Third District, which currently includes most of Wyandotte and Johnson counties.
If approved, the new voting map would put Miami, Franklin and Anderson counties in Davids’ district while putting the northern half of Wyandotte County into Rep. Jake LaTurner’s Second District. Lawrence, meanwhile, would be eliminated from the Second District and put into the expansive First District that encompasses all of central and western Kansas minus Wichita’s Fourth District.
THE SENATE’S map represents out-and-out gerrymandering whose goal is to secure political gains for one political party.
And yes, it’s another example of why American voters are losing confidence in their democracy. It’s rigged.
If you’re a Democrat in Kansas, Republicans are working to see your chances of having a voice in Topeka and Washington, D.C. are diminished. That is not a representative democracy.
EVERY 10 YEARS Congressional voting maps are redrawn to reflect the changing demographics of the most recent U.S. Census. Kansas’ population of 3 million is heavily concentrated in Wichita and Kansas City. Our four districts represent about 711,000 each. Besides representing population, districts should also represent a state’s demographics, including its makeup of minorities. In Wyandotte County, for example, the Senate’s new map divides its Black and Hispanic populations, minorities who often have unified interests.
When done right, a district’s map should reflect its people as a whole.
On Friday, however, GOP Senators said they’ll choose who will represent the district, not the voters, by splitting up Wyandotte’s Democratic strongholds into two districts.
Kansas’ problem with drawing representative maps — in 2012, the legislature’s failure to come up with a suitable map resulted in a federal court drawing district lines — is because partisan concerns overwhelm common sense.
Our hope is that House Republicans this week recognize that the Senate’s proposed map denies Kansans equal representation and that they can do better.
If not, Gov. Laura Kelly’s only recourse is to ask, once again, for outside intervention.
— Susan Lynn
