|Redistricting Process: Legislative||Population Change (since 2000): 164,700|
|Legislature: Republican||Seats: 4|
|Governor: Sam Brownback (R)||Members of Congress: 4R|
|Party Control: Republican||2012: 37.8% Obama, 60.0% Romney|
Three maps are available for each state. Each has new district outlines in bold.
Click on each district on the map to see more information.
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New Districts by Party Representation
2010 Redistricting Changes: Kansas Holds Steady at Four Seats
Kansas emerged from the 2010 Census largely unscathed. While the population of the state exceeded 2.85 million residents, no seats were added or removed in the House. Kansas’ demographics, however, changed. There was a population decline in 77 out of the state’s 105 counties. These counties represent a shift in population from the western part of Kansas to the southeast. Laszlo Kulcsar, the director of the Kansas Population Center at Kansas State University believes that this is due to the increase in technological advances in farming. Productive farming techniques lead to fewer jobs, which in turn results in a less dense population. Kansas’ Hispanic population has grown 59% since 2000 to 10.5% of the state’s population. In 2011, Whites were 77.8% of Kansas’ population, Blacks 6.1%, American Indian and Alaska Natives 2.5%, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islander persons 0.1%.
Kansas’s redistricting process is controlled by the state legislature. The state House and Senate appoint members to a committee that creates plans. The plans are then sent to chambers for consideration . The Kansas Legislature receives the data needed for redistricting from the Secretary of State. The Speaker of the House, Mike O’Neill, appointed himself as the head of redistricting.
Kansas’ redistricting map, shown above, was completed on June 7th, 2012. The maps completed include Kansas’ legislative, congressional, and Board of Education districts. For the first time in the State’s history, a federal panel had to complete the redistricting plans because the Kansas State Legislature failed to finish by the end of their allotted legislative session. The resulting plan was highly controversial, sparking outcry from Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Speaker of the House Mike O’Neil, who both claimed that the new plan was extremely disruptive. Though several plans were created during the legislative session, Republicans stalled attempts at resolution.
Legislative redistricting in Kansas was a lengthy and argumentative process. On February 9th, 2012 the House approved a plan that shifted power from rural areas to Kansas City . Kansas made no progress regarding redistricting, however, due to the conservative House clashing with the moderate Senate. Though both chambers had agreed to congressional plans, they weren’t sure on how to find a way to appease both chambers. This problem persisted in the Senate itself, where moderate Republicans attempted to draw lines so that they would not have to go up against conservative incumbents. On April 27, 2012 the state Senate approved a chamber map. The House, on May 10th, 2012, approved a version of the Senate map. This move was unusual in that it represented a time in which the House approved a Senate map rather than pass its own. Though maps were passed on each side, neither won approval due to the feud between conservative and moderate Republican groups within the Kansas Legislature. On May 20, 2012, the Kansas State Legislature adjourned without settling on a redistricting map, which led to a three person federal panel creating new plans.
District One changed in several respects. Comanche, Barber, Kiowa, Pratt, Edwards, Stafford, and parts of Pawnee have been lost to the Fourth District. The northern parts of Greenwood are now part of the Fourth congressional district. In addition, the counties of Riley and Pottawatomie have been added. The city of Manhattan, Kansas State University and previously part of the Second District, has been added to the First. Parts of Marshall and Nemaha Counties have been lost to the Second, notably portions of Nemaha County above the town of Seneca.
The rural district is decidedly Republican. In fact, since the District’s inception on March 4, 1875 only one Democrat has ever served as its Representative.
The Second District is located on the eastern end of Kansas. It begins at the bottom from Montgomery, Labette, and Cherokee Counties and traces upwards to Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha, and parts of Marshall County. It no longer includes Johnson County and the Northeastern corner of Miami County, which now belong to Kansas’ Third District. Following redistricting in 2012, the Second gained parts of Marshall and Nemaha Counties. Riley and Pottawatomie Counties have been lost to the First. The Second also gained Montgomery County. In addition, a chunk of Douglas County, which had previously been a part of the Third, is now a part of the Second. Kansas’ 2nd congressional district covers a large majority of the eastern part of the state.
The Kansas Third is located on the eastern portion of the state. It contains Johnson, Wyandotte, and parts of Miami Counties. The Third lost part of Douglas County, but subsequently gained parts of northeast Miami County. The district is roughly the shape of a semicircle and stretches from approximately the Crosswind Airfield to roughly North 29th Street in Kansas City. Kansas’ Third Congressional District includes the Kansas City metropolitan area.
District Four is located in the Southern part of Kansas and has changed vastly. In particular, it has gained Barber, Comanche, Kiowa, Pratt, Edwards, and Stafford Counties. It also gained the northern part of Greenwood County, which had previously been a part of the First District. It did, however, lose Montgomery County to the Second . The district has a roughly rectangular shape at the bottom of Kansas, and is bordered to the north by the First.