By JOHN HANNA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Republican House leader on Tuesday dropped efforts to force a redraw of U.S. House districts that would have thrust the state into a widening national battle for partisan advantage in the 2026 elections.
The announcement by Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins ends a weekslong push by GOP lawmakers to circumvent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and call themselves into a special session on redistricting, which would have convened later this week.
A session would have targeted ousting four-term U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation.
Kansas Republicans were trying to answer President Donald Trump’s call for states to redraw their maps to give the GOP at least seven more winnable seats ahead of the 2026 midterms so the party stands a better chance of keeping its slim House majority.
The Kansas constitution allowed Republicans to bypass Kelly’s refusal to call a special session by having two-thirds of the members of both chambers sign a petition. The GOP has the necessary supermajorities, but a few Republican lawmakers opposed a mid-decade redistricting. Others feared that changes could make the three other Republican-held districts more competitive for Democrats.
“Planning a Special Session is always going to be an uphill battle with multiple agendas, scheduling conflicts and many unseen factors at play,” Hawkins said in a statement.
GOP lawmakers in Texas,Missouri and North Carolina have heeded the president’s call for new maps. California countered with an initiative on Tuesday’s ballot to pick up five Democratic seats there.
It would have been only the second time in the state’s 164-year history that lawmakers bypassed the governor for a special session. The only previous time was in 2021, when Republicans sought to challenge federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates. GOP leaders circulated this year’s petition for weeks.
Republicans still could circulate another petition, but the Legislature is scheduled to convene its next regular, annual session on Jan. 12, and they would still have time after that to get a new map into law.
The state’s filing candidate filing deadline isn’t until June 1, and the primary election is Aug. 4.
