When Kansas Republicans decided to draw their new maps, organizations wondered if they drew inspiration from the distant past. It may turn out that a more recent problem becomes their undoing. Kansas Republicans began their plan by looking at how to unseat Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids. Faced with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, they had a plan of using their veto override strength to override the governor’s expected action and press the maps forward.
With the maps moving forward rapidly in the House, passing out of committee in the House Jan. 24 and expected for floor passage today, Jan. 25, everything would seem to be smooth sailing for the Republicans, except for the nearly guaranteed court challenge. That would be the case, except for one small problem: They might not have the members available to actually override the governor.
The map above, the planned map, has already generated enough attention that national attorneys are looking at exactly what state of Kansas Republicans think they are doing in getting the map passed.
In speaking to Kansas State House reporter Brad Cooper at the Sunflower State Journal, Elias indicated that if the map reaches the stage of a governor’s override, it will see the inside of a courtroom and likely receive his support.
It is the “if” portion of that sentence that likely is causing several Republicans headaches at the moment. Republicans have 86 elected members in the Kansas House and need 84 in order to overturn the governor. At present, however, far more than two Republicans are out of the state House in varying states of illness, many linked to COVID.
The ongoing refusal of COVID vaccination, as well as the continued spread of COVID within the caucus, have made the Republican path to a veto override more difficult than they would have expected a year ago.
While Republicans certainly have the potential votes to override the governor and could accomplish that feat, they would first need to overcome their disbelief in COVID in general. From the Kansas Reflector:
On Tuesday, Woodard said, he asked a Republican lawmaker if they had COIVD-19. The response: COVID’s not real.
“It’s so frustrating because folks from our caucus are wearing masks and taking precautions, while science-deniers walk around the building,” Woodard said.
Rep. John Carmichael, speaking in the Kansas State House, has noted that the concerns over public health and safety of all legislators are “being ignored by Leadership,” and that this standard puts all legislators at risk.
Republicans who refuse to believe that COVID is real could ignore the statement a few weeks ago. Now that it may prevent them from reaching veto override votes, the impact of COVID should seem more real every day.