It’s almost amusing to see Douglas County, which has leaned toward Democratic candidates in recent years, being bounced from one congressional district to another during the current redistricting debate.

Does no one in the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation want to represent us?

Ten years ago, the solution was to split Lawrence and Douglas County between the 2nd and 3rd districts, but population growth in Johnson County will make that more difficult this time around. The congressional district map approved by the Kansas Senate puts all of Douglas County in the 2nd District, but that plan has come under fire in the Kansas House, where various draft plans have been submitted that put us in every district in the state except the Wichita-anchored 4th.

Perhaps the most questionable of the maps is one submitted by Rep. Anthony Brown, R-Eudora, which manages to put Douglas County into the largely rural 1st District, a district that now covers about the western two-thirds of the state. It’s a mystery how Brown, who lives in and represents a large chunk of Douglas County can believe its interests are best served by a district that stretches all the way to the Colorado border.

The congressional map approved by the Senate would only shift the Democratic-Republican balance in the 2nd District by about two percentage points. It’s surprising, but interesting, that such a small shift can turn Douglas county into such a political hot potato.