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Redistricting map splitting KCK along Interstate 70 heads to Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk

A Republican-supported congressional redistricting map that divides Wyandotte County at Interstate 70 and pairs Lawrence with Western Kansas is headed to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk.

The Kansas House approved the new map on a 79 - 37 vote Wednesday, a day after a four-hour debate.

The House fell five votes short of a veto proof majority with one Republican voting no and two voting present. Four Republicans, however, were absent Wednesday. Kelly has not said whether she will approve the plan but has asserted that that the Kansas City metro area should be kept in one district — which the approved map does not do.

“It’s not a map I would have voted for (when I was a Senator),” Kelly told reporters Wednesday.

The map, dubbed “ad astra” by lawmakers, is the first to gain full legislative approval in Kansas during the decennial redistricting process. States must draw new congressional and legislative lines based on population data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

At the center of the debate is the Kansas City metro area. Wyandotte and Johnson counties are currently in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, represented by the sole Democrat in Kansas’ congressional delegation, Rep. Sharice Davids. The counties, however, have gained population and combined have about 44,000 more people than permitted by federal rules.

“We looked at it from the perspective of Johnson County being the largest county and historically Johnson County has never been split,” Rep. Chris Croft, an Overland Park Republican who chaired the redistricting committee, said. During a meeting of Republican lawmakers he called it a “math problem with emotion.”

Under the lines approved by the Republican-dominated Legislature, Kansas’ 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.

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. It creates a potentially tough race in an election year where Republicans are favored to take control of the House of Representatives.

Davids and the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee have been quiet about the new map, however, letting advocacy groups like the League of Women Voters raise issues instead.

The map was released to the public just a week before the House granted it approval. Democrats criticized Republican leadership for moving too quickly and without transparency, ignoring the requests of 3rd District residents who wanted the core of the Kansas City area kept intact.

“There’s a lot of confusion that comes with this process and some of that confusion comes from a lack of transparency,” Rep. Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City Democrat, said. “To take and put us into a congressional district that only needs to bump up their diversity for the sake of watering down the vote of an ethnic community is shameful.”

Rep. Jason Probst, a Hutchinson Democrat, said lawmakers had taken a “win at all costs mentality” and made decisions about the maps without defining what factors should be considered.

Kansas’ speed has not been unusual, said Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. Because of delayed census data, Li said, many states have moved quickly and compressed opportunities for public involvement.

However, Li said, states have the option to move primaries rather than rush.

“There are lots of things they could do to allow a more robust and transparent process. But I think the fact that they’re rushing through tells you in some ways all you need to know about these maps. … The process is really just for show,” Li said.

In a Twitter post Monday, Marc Elias, who has filed several suits challenging redistricting maps nationwide, said the “ad astra” map would likely result in a lawsuit.

By cutting Kansas’ only majority-minority county in half, the map dilutes the voting power of minority Wyandotte County residents in the 3rd while increasing the proportion of minority voters in Kansas’ 2nd.

It is illegal for lawmakers to draw maps aimed at dividing racial minority groups. However, states are allowed to draw maps based on political goals.

Republicans have said lawsuits are inevitable regardless of how the lines are drawn.

“This process is a political process,” Rep. Steve Huebert, a Valley Center Republican, said. “I believe we can defend what we’ve done in a way that we can show that we followed the process and it’s fair.”