Kansas Supreme Court upholds Republican congressional map

By JOHN HANNA
AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ highest court has upheld a Republican redistricting law that improves the GOP’s chances of flipping the state’s only congressional seat held by a Democrat. The state Supreme Court on Wednesday refused for now to declare for the first time that the Kansas Constitution forbids overly partisan gerrymandering. Democrats argued that the map was drawn to help Republicans unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids in the 3rd District in the Kansas City area, while Republicans called it a fair map. It split the Kansas City area between two districts and put the Democratic eastern Kansas college town of Lawrence in the 1st District with heavily Republican central and western Kansas.