The national push to redraw Congressional boundary lines hasn’t gotten into the Kansas Legislature yet, but at least one gubernatorial candidate says it should.
Jeff Colyer is calling for Kansas to redraw its maps as soon as possible, and he has called for a special session to do that. Colyer says “national Democrats have gerrymandered Congress to make it more liberal than the real America” and “Kansas needs to lead the way in restoring sanity to our federal government.”
The national debate actually started when Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, and Republicans in the Texas Legislature started an effort to redraw Congressional maps to create five winnable districts for Republicans at the behest of President Donald Trump. California is now moving on a plan to create five winnable seats for Democrats and other states led by Democrats are considering similar measures.
Colyer served as lieutenant governor under Sam Brownback and then became the state’s 47th governor after Brownback was appointed to a role in Trump’s first presidency. The field to replace Democrat Governor Laura Kelly has gotten increasingly crowded through the summer. Besides Colyer, Republican candidates include Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, current Secretary of State Scott Schwab, current Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, as well as talk show host Doug Billings and data analyst Joy Eakins. Democrats in the race including Kansas Senators Ethan Corson and Cindy Holscher.
