(UPDATED to include comment from Senate minority leader)
The prospect of redrawing congressional election boundaries in Kansas appears to be getting more serious with Senate President Ty Masterson making his strongest comments to date on the possibility.
So far, Masterson has generally been open to the idea but has stopped short of making a commitment to drawing a new map either in a special legislative session before January or during the regular session after the first of the year.
His office was asked specifically late Thursday afternoon whether he was planning to try to call a special session on redistricting for Nov. 8.
“We’re actively discussing it, but no date has been set,” Masterson said in an emailed response late Thursday night.
Later in a television interview on Fox 4 news in Kansas City, Masterson said he thought redistricting would be “on the agenda.”
While the governor is not expected to call a special session, Masterson said the Legislature could call itself into a special session, something he added “was a possibility as well.”
The comments come amid increasing chatter in political circles that the Senate president is looking at multiple November dates for a special session.
There is also talk that either petitions calling for a special session are being circulated or will soon be circulated for lawmakers to sign.
Masterson’s most recent comment was firmer than anything he has said since mid-August, when the Sunflower State Journal briefly interviewed him about the possibility of redistricting.
“I’m processing it,” he said after a meeting of the Legislative Coordinating Council on Aug. 14.
“I want to fully understand what’s going on around the nation and how that plays.
“I do believe to some degree we’re in a battle for the heart of the nation. We’ll see. Nobody’s made any commitments.
“We’ve had no real strong conversations or anything about it. I’m kind of curious what the blue states do. It looks like they’re doing it. I don’t know. I’m still weighing it myself,” he said.
Asked if he wanted to redistrict the state, Masterson said, “If it means protecting the nation, the answer is yes. If it doesn’t make any difference, no.
“If the ‘Ds’ are going to go do it in the blue states and do it, then we have a reason to protect this country,” he said.
Masterson later issued a statement after one of his rivals for Kansas governor in 2026 – former Gov. Jeff Colyer – publicly called on the Legislature to draw new congressional districts immediately.
Colyer’s move potentially put pressure on Masterson to act as both jockey for a Trump endorsement during the 2026 Republican primary.
Colyer has said he didn’t intend to pressure Masterson.
“We have been looking at the issue for several weeks and I am actively engaged in the battle for the heart and soul of America, helping the President to Make America Great Again. More to come,” Masterson said after Colyer made his announcement.
The Legislature has the power to call itself into a special session if two-thirds of the House and Senate sign a petition agreeing to one.
It has only happened once in Kansas history when, in 2021, the Legislature called a special session for Thanksgiving week to fight back against federal health mandates.
It remains unclear how much support there is in the Legislature to call a special session to address redistricting, although that could change substantially if President Donald Trump urges the state to redraw a congressional map like he has done in Texas and Missouri.
For instance, in Indiana where the Trump administration is applying pressure on lawmakers to draw a new congressional map, one of the state’s first lawmakers to oppose to mid-decade redistricting is “now a rock solid HELL YES.”
The reversal came after two weeks after the lawmaker and his colleagues met with Trump’s administration on redistricting.
Republican Kansas lawmakers have been invited to Washington, D.C., for an Oct. 15 meeting with Trump administration officials.
The meeting is intended to address how lawmakers can advance the Trump agenda.
The invitation says nothing about Trump’s efforts to get states to draw election districts for members of Congress, but there’s a lot of speculation about whether the issue will surface.
A Missouri state senator who attended a similar event told the conservative-leaning Daily Signal that he “thinks the president’s interest in state legislatures could pressure state-level Republicans who often vote with Democrats to get in line with the party platform, particularly when it comes to redistricting.”
Some Republicans believe that Trump is already taking a heightened interest in Kansas after he announced on his Truth Social platform on Thursday that the federal government would give Kansas $5.7 million in storm relief.
He thanked Republican U.S. Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran and the “Republican State Legislature, who I pay very close attention to, for their advocacy for these recovery funds.”
“I LOVE KANSAS,” the president exclaimed.
He made similar posts about Wisconsin, South Dakota and North Carolina without highlighting the legislatures in those states.
Republican state Sen. Doug Shane of Louisburg was supportive of holding a special session to draw new election boundaries.
“I think it’s appropriate and we should go ahead and have the conversation,” he said in an interview.
“I personally would like to have it as a special session, not because we need to rush into it but because I would rather not have it be an issue that takes up time when we come back for the regular session,” he said.
He said he would rather have the debate over redistricting now and preserve the regular session next year for addressing other issues.
“Gerrymandering is a dirty word but the country has a long history in gerrymandering, and to the victor goes the spoils, so to speak,” he said.
He said there are states with little or no Republican representation because he said they have been “heavily gerrymandered.”
Shane said he didn’t think there was necessarily a consensus in the Senate for drawing new maps, something he acknowledged could shift if the president gets involved and starts calling out lawmakers who would oppose redistricting.
“Certainly, there are senators and representatives I’ve spoken to that are absolutely, ‘Let’s go, let’s do this’ and there are others that understand but it makes them uncomfortable,” he said. “There are others that are completely opposed.”
Republican state Sen. Mike Thompson of Shawnee said he was somewhat reluctant to draw election boundaries.
“I thought that we drew the maps pretty well the last time and they withstood the court challenge,” Thompson said in an interview.
Thompson acknowledged that he has not been involved in any intimate discussions on the issue but said it’s starting to get to be late in the year with many interim committees set to meet before the end of the year.
“I don’t know if you can get enough legislators interested in coming back for that sort of thing. Some may, some may not,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting.
“I don’t know. That’s a tough one.”
The Senate’s top Democrat, Dinah Sykes of Lenexa, questioned the premise of drawing new election boundaries.
“Their map was good enough in 2022, why in the world would anyone – especially anyone running for governor – consider mid-decade Congressional redistricting?” she asked.
“Simple. Because Republicans want to further silence the voices of Kansas voters in order to curry favor with the White House.
“Given the current political climate both here and in Washington, any attempted Congressional redistricting of Kansas’ four districts will further diminish the will of the people,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi of Wichita said he has had no conversations about a special session to address redistricting.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins was out of town and was not immediately available for comment Friday morning, but he has not commented previously on the question.
House Majority Leader Chris Croft, who oversaw redistricting in 2022, has not returned repeated calls seeking comment about redistricting.
There is a general view that drawing new lines in the House would be much harder than in the Senate.
It is believed that the Senate can muster the 27 signatures needed to call a special session while the House could be between 10 to 15 members short.
There are also questions about whether a map could withstand a court challenge.
The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the current congressional maps in 2022 in a 4-3 decision.
One of the justices who supported that congressional map has since retired and was replaced by a new justice appointed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly who may not share the same legal philosophy, although the case could still end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
There is a sense among some House Republicans that trying to draw new congressional lines could bring with it political repercussions that will alienate a cross-section of Kansas voters.
There’s also an idea that drawing new congressional lines could hurt efforts to pass a constitutional amendment calling for judicial elections next spring if it appears that the GOP is trying to take a greater control of the government.
