photo by: Courtesy: State of Kansas

This GOP-created map shows proposed boundaries for Kansas House Districts in Lawrence. The purple district labeled No. 115 is a new district that starts southeast of Lawrence but stretches deep into Johnson County along Kansas Highway 10.

Lawrence residents, get your welcome mat out for Johnson County. In one key way, JoCo may soon be at Lawrence’s doorstep.

As state legislators redraw House and Senate districts across Kansas, a map created by Republicans has a new Johnson County House district extending all the way to the Lawrence city limits.

As you may already know, it is redistricting season at the Kansas Statehouse. Every 10 years, state leaders must redraw political districts in the state using new Census data to ensure they are roughly equal in population.

The process has gotten a lot of attention locally because the process of congressional redistricting has Lawrence moving to the 1st Congressional District, which would put liberal Lawrence in with conservative western Kansas.

That process is largely completed at the Statehouse. The congressional maps have been approved, and the best chance of having them changed is through several lawsuits that have been filed.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers turned their attention to drawing maps for local House and Senate districts, i.e. their districts. We reported on that process in January. Douglas County’s population over the last decade has grown enough that it mathematically could have five House districts entirely within Douglas County’s borders. That would ensure Douglas County has one more representative in the state Legislature than it does today. Douglas County has parts of six House districts, but two of the districts are represented by people who live outside the county.

Suffice to say, the Republican-created House map didn’t pay any heed to the recommendation from the Douglas County delegation. The map does not give Douglas County five self-contained House districts. Instead, it got out the carving knife and treated Douglas County like a Democratic turkey. Douglas County would have parts of nine districts in it. Currently, it has parts of six districts.

That’s not a surprise. All the members of the Douglas County delegation are Democrats, while the Kansas Legislature is controlled by Republicans.

Surprise or not, the proposed Republican map creates some interesting political puzzle pieces. Perhaps the most interesting is a new district, designated District No. 115, that includes large portions of land just southeast of the Lawrence city limits and includes the southern portions of Eudora. What makes the district interesting, though, is that it includes a long finger-like slice into Johnson County, primarily along Kansas Highway 10.

At first glance, the district looks like it could be a Douglas County-heavy district or at least equally split between Douglas County and Johnson County. But when you dig into the numerical data submitted with the map, you learn that’s far from true. The new district would have 19,172 Johnson County residents and 3,960 Douglas County residents, based on the latest Census data.

Make no mistake, the new district is mathematically a Johnson County district that just happens to be right outside of Lawrence.

It also creates a interesting situation for Eudora, the town of about 6,600 people just east of Lawrence. The proposed map appears to split Eudora between two House districts, with Kansas Highway 10 appearing to be the boundary line. People who live south of K-10 would be in the new District No. 115. Residents north of the highway would be in District No. 42, which currently represents all of Eudora.

Neither district is what you would consider Douglas County-based. District No. 42, held by GOP conservative Lance Neelly of Tonganoxie, has 13,065 Leavenworth County residents, 7,614 Douglas County residents and 2,396 Jefferson County residents. As for District No. 115, I’ve already given you those stats, which could be summarized as Johnson County, a lot, Douglas County, a little. So, while anything is possible, the odds of Eudora being represented by a Douglas County resident are uphill.

The last interesting thing about the district is that it appears there are no current members of the Kansas House who live within the confines of the proposed district. That means it would be an open seat when it comes up for election later this year.

photo by: Courtesy: State of Kansas

The GOP-created map shows proposed boundaries for Kansas House districts in eastern Kansas. The ‘L’ in the upper right portion of the map represents Lawrence. The map shows Douglas County would have parts of nine districts in it.

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That’s just one district, though. The lines would be changing for every district in the county. Here’s a look:

• House District No. 10, represented by Rep. Christina Haswood, D-Lawrence, would remain entirely within Douglas County. But its territory would shrink. It would no longer include Baldwin City. It basically would stop at the Wakarusa River south of Lawrence. It would abut the the new District No. 115, which would represent the Pleasant Grove area south of Lawrence. District 115, however, would not represent Baldwin City.

• House District No. 5 would represent Baldwin City. That district currently is represented by Mark Samsel, a Wellsville Republican. Currently, that district includes parts of Franklin, Linn, Anderson and Miami counties, but does not extend into Douglas County. As proposed, District No. 5 would include 8,754 residents of Douglas County, 3,080 of Franklin County, 5,356 of Johnson County and 6,332 of Miami County. As you can see, Douglas County has the most residents of that district, but it is via plurality rather than a majority. As is the case with all of these districts, I don’t have data on the Republican vs. Democrat breakdown, but it would appear to be a strongly Republican-leaning district.

• House District No. 46, represented by Rep. Boog Highberger, D-Lawrence, would continue to be entirely within Douglas County. It would continue to represent large parts of East Lawrence, central Lawrence and North Lawrence, covering all the territory north of 15th Street, south of the turnpike and east of Iowa Street.

• House District No 44, currently represented by Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, would continue to be entirely within Douglas County. It would remain a west Lawrence district, representing most of Lawrence west of Iowa Street, east of Wakarusa Drive, south of Sixth Street and north of the South Lawrence Trafficway.

• House District No. 45, currently represented by Rep. Mike Amyx, D-Lawrence, would continue to be entirely within Douglas County. However, it would be less of a rural Douglas County district and become more of a far west Lawrence district, particularly covering the growing northwest part of the city. It would cover the parts of Lawrence west of Wakarusa Drive, all of the Lawrence city limits west of Iowa Street but north of Sixth Street, and all of the rural area immediately north of the Kansas Turnpike. However, District No. 45 no longer would represent Lecompton in northwest Douglas County.

• House District No. 47 would represent Lecompton. That district currently is represented by Rep. Ronald Ellis, a Meriden Republican. The reconfigured District No. 47 would remain a primarily Jefferson County district. It already includes Lecompton’s close neighbor, Perry. The breakdown of the new district would be: Douglas, 3,459 residents; Jackson, 3,526 residents; Jefferson, 15,972 residents.

• House District No. 43 technically is in Douglas County, but just barely. As proposed, it would have 510 Douglas County residents and 23,234 Johnson County residents. The portion of Douglas County included in the district is a slice of rural, eastern Douglas County between North 700 and North 200 roads.

The map still needs to win approval, and other versions may get considerations as well. But this seems to be one that will get strong consideration from Republicans. I’ve got a call into Reps. Ballard and Highberger from Lawrence, who have both been active in the redistricting process, for their thoughts on where the process stands and what it means for Lawrence.

The GOP-created map reportedly is expected to have a hearing in the House Redistricting Committee on Wednesday.