Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – Kansas’ new Republican-backed congressional maps do not violate Kansas’ state constitution. The state’s highest court ruled Wednesday that the ruling does not affect Kansas’ only Democratic U.S. representative.

A lower court had ruled that the state Supreme Court map illegally and intentionally diluted Democratic and Minority voters’ voting power.

Wyandotte County is the Kansas City home. The map breaks Wyandotte County down into two districts. This makes Sharice Daves’s seat as Democratic U.S. Senator more Republican. Three other districts in the state are considered solidly Republican. In February, several Democratic-aligned and civil rights organizations challenged the map.

Davids, the first Democrat in Kansas to win a seat for Congress in a decade in 2018, was one of only two Native American women elected to Congress.

Davids responded to the decision by saying, “From rushed meetings to backroom arrangements for votes. The redistricting process didn’t instill confidence or transparency.”

“I look forward introducing myself in the Third District to the new voters, continuing to my work on finding common ground and tackling the daily issues facing our community, as well as showing all Kansans, that I care about their voice,” she said.

Derek Schmidt (Republican state Attorney General) said that the decision affirmed the map’s constitutionality.

For Republicans to win control of the House, they will need only to flip five Democratic seats in November. They can then sabotage President Joe Biden’s plans.

U.S. law requires that congressional districts be redrawn each ten years in order to reflect population growth. It is common for the legislature to control the process in most states. That can give lawmakers the ability to change the lines to favor one party or another.

Five justices of the state were appointed by a Democrat and two by a Republican.