Candidate stampede after federal judges redraw political districts in Kansas
Republicans and Democrats in Kansas began a mad scramble for candidates Friday in the wake of a dramatic redrawing of district boundary lines affecting every member of Congress and the state Legislature.
The new lines — drawn by a panel of three federal judges after lawmakers couldn’t complete the task — resulted in a flood of legislative seats without incumbents. That means a host of fresh faces will be in Topeka next January, and that party leaders are under a severe time crunch to find candidates before Monday’s noon filing deadline for the August primary.
“It’s probably the most disruptive redistricting in Kansas history,” said Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the state’s chief elections officer.
No less than the future course of the Brownback administration, which is seeking to stamp the state with a more conservative imprint, could be affected by the boundary-line shuffle, as well as the prospects for a billion-dollar bio-defense lab planned for Manhattan, Kan.
Under the new maps, the Kansas State University community moves from the 2nd Congressional District to the 1st, which is now represented by a staunch conservative, U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp. He’s known as a budget hawk who wants to curtail federal spending.
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