<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1602270800776.png" alt="Senate President Susan Wagle said Republicans could redraw self-serving legislative and congressional districts as long as they have a two-thirds majority in the Statehouse to override a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Senate President Susan Wagle said Republicans could redraw self-serving legislative and congressional districts as long as they have a two-thirds majority in the Statehouse to override a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Gov. Kelly says nonpartisan commission should oversee redistricting</h2>By SHERMAN SMITH and TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/10/09/senate-president-susan-wagle-embraces-gerrymandering-to-benefit-gop-in-kansas/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Democrats blasted
 Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle on Friday for recent comments she 
made about the desire to redraw legislative and congressional district 
boundaries in Kansas to favor Republicans.Wagle, a Republican from 
Wichita who is retiring from the Legislature after withdrawing from the 
U.S. Senate race, told a gathering of Republicans last month that the 
party needs to secure a supermajority in the Legislature to craft new 
maps in 2022 that would keep her seat in GOP hands and prevent Democrats
 from maintaining a foothold in the 3rd congressional district.The comments enflamed 
Democrats who have accused Republicans of exploiting their political 
power to gerrymander political boundaries. Gov. Laura Kelly said the 
comments are an indication that Kansas should form a nonpartisan 
commission to make the maps.Wagle said recasting the 
congressional districts would inhibit the ability of Democratic U.S. 
Rep. Sharice Davids to retain her seat. Additionally, Wagle’s own 
district has shifted to the left, the senate president explained. If 
Republican state Rep. Renee Erickson can defeat Democrat Melissa Gregory
 for Wagle’s seat, Wagle said, the Republican will need help to hang 
onto it.“During redistricting, I 
need to give her some more Republican neighborhoods in order to make 
sure she stays elected,” Wagle said. “So redistricting, it’s right 
around the corner. And if Governor Kelly can veto a Republican bill that
 gives us four Republican congressmen, that takes out Sharice Davids up 
in the 3rd — we can do that. I guarantee you we can draw four Republican
 congressional maps. But we can’t do it unless we have a two-thirds 
majority in the Senate and House.”Davis Hammet, a voting rights activist, <a href="https://twitter.com/Davis_Hammet/status/1314566887230054402?s=20">published on social media Friday</a> a video of Wagle’s comments, which were made during a Sept. 25 speech at the Pachyderm Club in Wichita.Davids, who is seeking 
re-election in the 3rd District anchored by Johnson and Wyandotte 
counties, said Kansas would benefit from a nonpartisan redistricting 
process. She is competing against GOP nominee Amanda Adkins.“Corrupt politicians are 
using partisan gerrymandering to manipulate our already broken political
 system so it benefits their extreme agenda, not hardworking Kansans,” 
Davids said. “I believe every elected official should be accountable to 
the people they represent. That means we need a redistricting process 
that’s independent, non-partisan and creates truly representative 
districts.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1602270876929.png" alt="U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat seeking re-election in the 3rd District, said “corrupt politicians are using partisan gerrymandering to manipulate our already broken political system so it benefits their extreme agenda.”(Submitted/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat seeking re-election in the 3rd District, said “corrupt politicians are using partisan gerrymandering to manipulate our already broken political system so it benefits their extreme agenda.”(Submitted/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>Outcome of the state 
Senate race between Erickson and Gregory will be decided Nov. 3. 
Erickson didn’t respond to a request for comment, but Gregory said 
residents of the east Wichita district were weary of the “extremism of 
Susan Wagle and her handpicked replacement, Renee Erickson.”The redistricting flap was one more reason the election is critical to Kansas’ future, Gregory said.“To move Kansas forward, 
we need bipartisan cooperation to create a map that is best for Kansans,
 not one that is best for the extremists of either political party,” she
 said. “We need to expand Medicaid to 150,000 Kansans, protect coverage 
for their pre-existing conditions and restore jobs in a way that keeps 
us all safe and healthy. But that won’t happen if politicians get to 
choose their voters.”Redistricting is performed
 each decade following completion of the U.S. Census. The population 
count is relied upon to set boundaries of U.S. House districts, which 
there are four in Kansas, as well as the 165 state legislative districts
 and the 10 state Board of Education districts.Vicki Hiatt, chairwoman of
 the Kansas Democratic Party, called the video “a cynical and extremely 
disappointing display of the extremist, obstructionist politics that 
have marked Republican leadership in the Kansas Legislature.”“Susan Wagle just said the
 quiet part of Republicans’ strategy to manipulate our districts out 
loud,” Hiatt said. “By promising to gerrymander districts in the Kansas 
Legislature and write Rep. Sharice Davids out of office, Republican 
leadership just made it clear they intend to undermine the voices of 
hardworking Kansans.”Kelly responded to the 
Wagle’s comments by revealing her intention to urge legislative leaders 
to support her idea for a nonpartisan voting commission to oversee 
redistricting, rather than leave the map making up to the Legislature.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1602270904109.png" alt="Gov. Laura Kelly said a nonpartisan commission should be appointed to handle redrawing of political boundaries for legislative, congressional and state education board districts rather than leave the work to the Legislature and governor. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Gov. Laura Kelly said a nonpartisan commission should be appointed to handle redrawing of political boundaries for legislative, congressional and state education board districts rather than leave the work to the Legislature and governor. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>“A 
democracy means voters choose their elected officials — not elected 
officials choosing their voters,” Kelly said. “Kansans deserve to know 
where their leaders stand on an issue that will impact our state for the
 next decade.”C.J. Grover, spokesman for
 the Kansas Republican Party, said Kansans should vote for Republicans 
in the upcoming election to ensure fair maps that reflect the will of 
the majority. He said it was laughable to suggest a duly elected 
supermajority of the Legislature could undermine the will of the people.Following news reports 
about Wagle’s comments on redistricting, the Senate president said in a 
statement that the Democratic governor was certain to seek district maps
 beneficial to liberal unless the GOP checked her power to veto 
GOP-drawn maps.Wagle doubled down on her belief political boundaries ought to reflect interests of those who win elections.“Elections have 
consequences and there is no question reapportionment is a political 
process as it sets the table for both Congress and our Kansas 
Legislature for the next 10 years,” Wagle said. “I’m working tirelessly 
for the next 25 days to make sure Republicans keep control of the state 
Legislature as a check on Governor Kelly’s liberal policies and to make 
sure we have a powerful seat at the reapportionment table.”Members of the Kansas Legislature draw the maps, which are subject to veto by the state’s governor.In 2012, the House and 
Senate in Kansas failed to adopt a new district maps. Conflict between 
moderate and conservative Republicans in the Senate led to stalemate 
that triggered a lawsuit.A three-judge panel in 
U.S. District Court intervened to draw the congressional and state 
legislative districts in June 2012. The federal judges wrote in an 
unsigned order they redrew the maps after weighing the proposals of 27 
individuals allowed to intervene in the case.“Most of the interveners 
have unabashedly political reasons for intervening and they seek to 
advance their respective political agendas,” the judges wrote.Hammet said the U.S. 
Supreme Court recognized last year that political gerrymandering is 
unjust but deferred to Congress and the states to fix the problem. 
Wagle’s comments, Hammet said, make it clear that “some Kansas leaders 
plan to exploit the problem.”“Everyone knows that 
gerrymandering goes against the core values of the United States,” 
Hammet said. “It’s a dirty trick to circumvent and undermine the will of
 voters.”This story has been corrected to say that Senate President Susan Wagle withdrew from the U.S. Senate race.

Senate President Wagle embraces gerrymandering to benefit Kan. GOP