Kansas GOP fails to undo veto of remap plan hurting Democrat

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Kansas GOP fails to undo veto of remap plan hurting Democrat

By JOHN HANNA
February 7, 2022

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republican lawmakers in Kansas learned Monday that they didn’t have the votes yet to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a GOP redistricting plan that would make it harder for the state’s only Democrat in Congress to win reelection.

The GOP-controlled state Senate voted 24-15 to overturn Kelly’s action, but Republican leaders needed three more, or 27 in the 40-member chamber, for the necessary two-thirds majority. Four of the chamber’s 29 Republicans broke ranks with GOP leaders and joined 10 of the chamber’s 11 Democrats in voting no. The absent Democrat also would have voted no.

Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican and one of the architects of the plan, also voted no, so that under the Legislature’s rules he can ask senators to reconsider Tuesday. If GOP leaders fail to muster a two-thirds majority then, or the Senate does not vote Tuesday, the GOP plan will die.

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The Republican plan would split the state’s portion of the Kansas City area into two congressional districts, costing Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids some of the territory in her 3rd District where she performs best. The map also would move the liberal northeast Kansas community of Lawrence, home to the main University of Kansas campus, from the 2nd District of eastern Kansas into the 1st District of central and western Kansas with conservative communities six or more hours away by car.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/elections-legislature-kansas-topeka-redistricting-8d918030e146e015ab4a182807412058