Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a Republican-backed congressional map Thursday and called for a new bipartisan map.
The map, known as Ad Astra 2, would have made it more difficult for the state’s sole Democrat in Congress, Rep. Sharice Davids, to get reelected. Republican leaders in the state Legislature have indicated that they will attempt to override her veto.
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“Several alternatives would allow for the same deviation as Ad Astra 2 while protecting the core of the existing congressional districts and without diluting minority communities’ voting strength,” Kelly said in a statement. “I am ready to work with the Legislature in a bipartisan fashion to pass a new congressional map.”
Last month, Republican lawmakers passed the map in the House by 79-37 and the Senate by 26-9. Republicans have more than the two-thirds majority in both chambers that Kansas requires to override a veto. In a joint statement, Republican leaders in the Legislature said they would try to override the veto and argued the map was fair.
“The map is reflective of the testimony we received from the public, has zero deviation between Congressional districts, creates compact and contiguous districts, preserves existing district cores, and groups together communities of interest,” the lawmakers said. “It is also politically fair, keeping all four members of Congress within their current seats, and each would have still won had the Ad Astra 2 map been in place in 2020. All in all, the Ad Astra 2 Map will serve Kansas well, and accordingly, we will work to override the governor’s veto in short order.”
In defending her decision, Kelly said Ad Astra 2 shifted 33% of the Hispanic population and 46% of the black population out of District 3, which is held by Davids. She said the map added more rural counties to the district that were to the south and west of Kansas City. District 3 currently contains a section of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
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States across the country have been setting up new congressional maps in response to census data collected in 2020. Kansas currently has four congressional seats held by three Republicans and one Democrat. The most recent census left its congressional seat count unchanged.
Kelly has previously indicated that she plans to run for reelection in 2022. The Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up. In 2018, she defeated Republican Kris Kobach 48% to 43%, with independent Greg Orman getting 6.5% of the vote.
