Kansas legislators won’t have a special session to join the US redistricting battle
November 4, 2025
The Kansas House’s top Republican has given up for now on forcing a special session of the Legislature to redraw the state’s U.S. House districts to give the GOP an additional seat. The effort abandoned Tuesday by House Speaker Dan Hawkins would have convened a special session Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s call for states to enact new maps to help Republicans keep their slim House majority in the 2026 midterms. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly opposed a special session, and GOP leaders were trying to bypass her by gathering the signatures of two-thirds of each chamber on a petition. However, there were a few holdouts in the House.