TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ The Kansas Senate has passed a congressional redistricting bill that has bipartisan support but has drawn criticism from the state Republican Party.
The bill, approved on a 23-17 vote, creates a slightly more
Democratic district for Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, the senior
member of the state's all-GOP U.S. House delegation.
The proposal split the 32 Republicans in the 40-member Senate,
with 15 of them supporting it. All eight Democrats voted yes before
the bill went to the House.
The proposal expands the 1st District of western and central
Kansas to sweep in Manhattan, home of Kansas State University.
Local officials want to stay in Jenkins' 2nd District of eastern
Kansas.
Supporters said they didn't have politics in mind in redrawing
lines to account for population changes over the past decade.