Dem
47
GOP
53
Despite Donald Trump's order to Republican-controlled legislatures to gerrymander their maps to the max, not all states have snapped to attention and said: "Yes sir." For example, Kansas has a district, KS-03, in the suburbs of Kansas City (which is mostly in Missouri) that is D+2. It is represented by Sharice Davids (D-KS). Kansas is so red that it should be possible to draw all four districts red enough that they could withstand a blue wave, yet that is not happening. At least not now. The leaders of the legislature want to bring the legislature back into session right now to change the map, but a number of legislators are pushing back. They don't want to do it. As a punishment, the leadership has stripped some of those members who are resisting of their committee chairmanships.
Getting the legislature back into session is not a matter of the speaker and majority leaders sending out e-mails. Two-thirds of the representatives and two-thirds of the senators have to agree. Since no Democrat will agree, it doesn't take many dissenting Republicans to block a new session. At least 10 have refused to sign on so far.
One dissenting Republican, state Rep. Clarke Sanders, was told if he didn't sign on, he would get a call from Washington. He didn't sign on and indeed got the call. He spoke to a White House staffer for 30 minutes and explained that the voters don't like this kind of nonsense and it would give the Democrats "a club to beat us over the head with." Then Sanders got a call from Speaker of the Kansas House Daniel Hawkins informing him that he was being relieved as vice chairman of the Higher Education Budget Committee. He wasn't the only one. At least six Republicans lost their committee chairmanships or vice chairmanships for refusing to sign on.
Maybe redistricting will happen in January, when the legislature is back in regular session, but the breadth and depth of the opposition could make it an uphill climb. State Rep. Brett Fairchild (R) said this kind of stunt goes against what the founding fathers wanted. Besides, it could backfire in the future. Also, even if the arm-twisting succeeds, there is the problem of the expected veto from Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS). That can be overridden, but if five House Republicans refuse to vote to override the veto, it won't be. Stay tuned, it is not a done deal yet. (V)