Senate Committee Approves Redistricting Map

Wed, February 01, 2012

Kansas Public Radio / Stephen Koranda

A Kansas Senate committee has approved a map that reconfigures the state’s congressional districts.

The map moves the city of Manhattan from the 2nd District into the 1st. Officials in Manhattan have been arguing against that idea. The city of Lawrence, which is currently split between the 2nd and 3rd Districts, would be placed entirely into the 2nd District. The map was proposed by Republican Senator Tim Owens, of Overland Park, who chairs the Senate redistricting committee.

“I think it’s very cleanly cut,” says Owens. “I think it’s as non-political as we can make it. The considerations weren’t made on political basis as far as I was concerned.”

The new map still needs approval from the full Senate before it moves on to the House for further consideration.