FRANKFORT, Ky. — The GOP leaders of the Kentucky House of Representatives released plans for redrawing the state's legislative districts on Thursday.
They hope to pass the proposal soon after lawmakers convene the 2022 legislative session on Tuesday.
Thursday marked the first opportunity for the public to see the redistricting maps that Republican leaders have been putting together in recent months to reflect population shifts over the past decade.
Details are still to come on new state Senate and U.S. congressional districts, but those are expected during the session's first week.
Thursday's announcement of the House proposal, on the start of the state's New Year's Eve holiday, left some complaining the disclosure was hasty and lacked details.
"I think what we have witnessed here today is an attempt at fake transparency," said Shively Rep. Joni Jenkins, minority leader of the House Democrats.
But House Speaker David Osborne, who introduced the changes, flanked by 10 fellow Republicans, said his party — with a solid, 75-25 majority in the chamber — had taken into account the population changes, the law and constitutional requirements for new House districts.
"I think you will see a map that is much more reflective of Kentucky," he said.
With healthy Republican supermajorities in control of both the House and Senate, redistricting plans appear on track for swift passage, absent significant dissent within GOP ranks.
Osborne and other GOP representatives highlighted key changes they've proposed for their chamber's districts, including:
- Pitting four sets of incumbents — two pairs of Republicans and two pairs of Democrats — against each other in the same, newly reshaped districts;
- Expanding the number of majority-minority districts — meaning districts in which a majority of voters are members of a racial or ethnic minority — in the House from two to four.
The incumbents who would have to face off against each other, assuming the legislature approves these proposed maps, are:
- Republican Reps. Norma Kirk-McCormick and Bobby McCool, who represent House districts 93 and 97 in Eastern Kentucky;
- Republican Reps. Lynn Bechler and Jim Gooch Jr., who represent House districts 4 and 12 in Western Kentucky;
- Democratic Reps. Mary Lou Marzian and Josie Raymond, who represent House districts 34 and 31 in Jefferson County;
- Democratic Reps. McKenzie Cantrell and Lisa Willner, who represent House districts 38 and 35 in Jefferson County.
The two newly proposed majority-minority districts are House districts 40 and 44 in Jefferson County, which include areas currently represented by Democratic Reps. Nima Kulkarni and Jenkins.
Raoul Cunningham, president of the Jefferson County NAACP, said Thursday he needs time to review the proposed changes before commenting, though he favors the idea of more majority-minority districts.
Cunningham said he was invited to attend Thursday's news conference by House Republicans and declined because he had a medical appointment but also because he didn't want to appear to be endorsing the plan.
"I think it would be best for the NAACP to look at everything before we go out there," he said.
The League of Women Voters, which had offered its own proposal for new districts, also needs time to review the new maps, said Dee Pregliasco, state vice president.
But the organization already is concerned with what she said is a closed and hurried process with a bill on the fast track when lawmakers convene Tuesday.
"The big issue to me is that here it is the 30th of December, they're going to introduce the bill Tuesday and they want it passed by Saturday," Pregliasco said. "That gives no one a chance to look at the maps and have any input."
While her organization held more than 100 public events to hear from voters, House Republicans did little, she said.
"It wasn't an open and transparent process," she said.
Jenkins, joined by House Democratic leaders for a news conference, said her members are unhappy the proposal was released with less than 24 hours' notice at the start of the holiday, with most non-partisan legislative staff who could help analyze it off work till Monday.
Rep. Angie Hatton, D-Whitesburg and House minority whip, said the lack of details of voting precincts was especially problematic.
"Until we can see precinct level numbers, we don't really know," she said.
Jenkins said Democrats will study the new districts "very, very closely" but couldn't say yet what action they might take to oppose it. But she acknowledged Democrats lack the votes to block it.
"We can count," she said.
Osborne anticipates the legislature will work fast to try to approve the new maps by the end of their first week in session.
Republicans had asked Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, to call a special session to get redistricting done earlier but it ended in a partisan stand-off.
A spokeswoman for Beshear did not respond to a request for comment about the House proposal.
Redistricting takes place every 10 years to reflect shifts in population.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced in May that Kentucky's population had a modest increase of 158,736 residents over the past 10 years, keeping its six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Within the state's borders, however, the shift in population appeared to be more dramatic, as rural Eastern and Western Kentucky have lost residents, while urban centers of Louisville and Lexington and suburban areas along interstate highways have picked up population.
State legislative and congressional districts must be drawn so they represent a roughly equal number of residents.
Osborne said Thursday their House map meets that requirement.
More:Kentucky General Assembly kicks off 2022 session Tuesday: Here's what to expect
Even if lawmakers act fast on new plans, it's a safe bet they'll delay the Jan. 7 filing deadline for candidates, who need to know the boundaries of the state legislative and federal congressional districts they're campaigning for in 2022.
Osborne said Thursday he expects a bill to be introduced early in the week that will delay the filing deadline to Jan. 25.
Republican lawmakers are in full control of Kentucky's redistricting process for the first time in history and are able to override any vetoes by Beshear.
Osborne said Thursday they determined, from the get-go, "that we would do it differently."
"That we would draw a thoughtful map that complied with every legal and constitutional requirement, and I believe we did that," he said. "Certainly, there will be second-guessing into all of it, but I think it's a map that we can be proud of."
While the House is in charge of drafting the new district maps for its 100 seats, the Senate has been mapping out the new boundaries for its 38 districts but hasn't released its plan yet.
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While the League of Women Voters of Kentucky supports the creation of a bipartisan commission to advise the legislature on where to draw the new lines, legislation to do so has been ignored in Frankfort over the past decade — with the current GOP supermajority being no exception.
The Republican-dominated Kentucky legislature also is in charge of setting fresh boundaries for the state's six districts in the U.S. House of Representatives. That plan hasn't been revealed to the public yet either but will likely require changes because of population declines mostly in Eastern and Western Kentucky.
There has been speculation Republican lawmakers might reshape the Louisville-based 3rd Congressional District, which Kentucky's only Democrat in Congress, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, represents.
John Yarmuth's seat:2022 race for Yarmuth's House seat: Who's in, who's out, who's a maybe
He's retiring after this term, leaving his seat up for grabs in 2022 and possibly making it more of an attractive target for the GOP.
Osborne indicated he expects the Kentucky Senate's Republican leadership will release their proposed maps for the congressional and state Senate districts early next week.
Kentucky's redistricting process has taken longer than usual this time around because the 2020 census data was late, because of delays related to the pandemic.
Reach Deborah Yetter at [email protected]. Find her on Twitter at @d_yetter.
