Davids: “They’re trying to change the field in the middle of a game they know they’re going to lose.”

In case you missed it, Republican leaders in Kansas are once again pushing Trump-backed redistricting schemes designed to silence Kansas voters and dismantle Representative Sharice Davids’ district. As Salon reports, even after Republicans carved up her district in 2022, Davids didn’t back down — she won by double digits. Twice.

Now, GOP leaders are plotting an even more extreme gerrymander — one that would split up Johnson County, Kansas’ most populous and fastest-growing community, despite earlier promises they wouldn’t.

Last week, state Republican leaders took the first official step to force a mid-decade redistricting. At a recent GOP retreat, they circulated a petition to call a special legislative session as soon as November 7 — all to do Donald Trump’s bidding and rewrite the rules in the middle of the game.

Read more in Salon: “How a red-state Democrat beat gerrymandering,” by Garrett Owen

“…one gerrymandered Democratic representative in Kansas continues to win reelection. 

Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., is the only Democratic representative that Kansas sends to Washington, DC. She represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District, which consists of four-and-a-half eastern counties, ranging from rural farmland to the highly urban, Kansas City metropolitan area.

That’s because a Republican-drawn map in 2022 carved up Davids’ territory, cutting the urban, ethnically diverse Wyandotte County in half. This left Davids to contend with a larger, more rural and more conservative electorate.

[…]

“When they gerrymandered the Kansas maps, I was — like a lot of folks around here — frustrated at the fact that they essentially decided who their voters are,” Davids told Salon. “Voters are supposed to decide who their representatives are.”

So confident in their redistricting were Republican state lawmakers that former Senate Majority Leader Susan Wagle said she could “guarantee you we can draw four Republican congressional maps” and secure a state-wide red wave.  

And yet, when it came time to vote, Davids beat her conservative opponent by 12 points, and again in 2024, when she won reelection for a third term — also by double digits. “The voters spoke loud and clear,” she said.

[…]

Earlier this month, Republican Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said he would consider another round of redistricting “for the heart and soul of the country,” and to further President Donald Trump’s national agenda.  

“It is crucial that President Trump can continue working with a Republican Congress to keep delivering on his agenda and ushering in America’s comeback,” Masterson said.  

[…]

The mid-decade redistricting — following similar efforts in Texas and Missouri — would see Davids’ territory sliced up again, splitting up her power base in Johnson County.

[…]

“People are pretty pissed about the idea of revisiting the idea of redistricting,” Davids told Salon. She said the move came from Trump’s desire to secure a conservative advantage in the face of “extreme policies” that are known to be “unpopular.” Davids cited the effects of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which led some 79,000 Kansans to lose health coverage.

“It’s why Donald Trump is telling state legislators to do this,” Davids said. “They know there is no other way for them to win. They have to cheat to win.”

[…]

“Trump is looking for a way to give [Republicans] a better chance of power after the 2026 midterms,” Skelley told Salon. “He’s been pretty open in pushing for space to redistrict.”

[…]

While Skelley says there is precedent for redistricting based on changes to the census data of an area, Samuel Wang, founder of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project and a neuroscientist at Princeton, said a mid-decade redistricting is “extremely rare.”

[…]

“The most important thing we can all be doing is making sure as many people as possible know that our state’s legislators are looking at doing Donald Trump’s bidding,” Davids said. “They’re trying to change the field in the middle of a game they know they’re going to lose.”