photo by: AP File Photo

Kansas state Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, talks to reporters Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at the Statehouse in Topeka.

Sen. Tom Holland says he has hired an attorney to challenge a new Kansas Senate map that removes all of his district’s Lawrence territory and largely replaces with it Johnson County communities.

“I’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court,” Holland, D-Baldwin City, said of his intentions of filing a lawsuit in state court.

Holland, who has represented Lawrence in the Kansas Senate since 2009, said he is waiting to see if Gov. Laura Kelly signs the new maps into law. But Holland said it appears likely that the governor will allow the maps to become law. The map was approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate on Wednesday evening. Both bodies approved them by a margin likely large enough to override a veto from the governor.

Holland said he also may file lawsuits challenging the new maps for the Kansas House districts and the Kansas Board of Education districts. Holland said he thinks the maps have not been drawn fairly and that the House and Senate maps will unnecessarily weaken the Democratic caucus in the Kansas legislature.