Kansas GOP face-plants with attempt to gerrymander U.S. House seat for Trump. Sad!

House Speaker Dan Hawkins tracks legislation in his chamber on March 5, 2024. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

In the end, Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins just couldn’t get it done.

Hawkins didn’t have the muscle, didn’t have the persuasive power, didn’t have the juice to deliver for President Donald Trump. All the president asked was for a simple redistricting, a tiny gerrymander in Johnson County, to deliver an extra congressional seat to Republicans. All Hawkins had to do was persuade two-thirds of his chamber to sign a petition calling for a special session. Too many Republicans balked.

Trump groups people into two camps: winners and losers. Hawkins showed, on the same day that Democrats romped to victory in other states, that he was a loser.

But then Trump may have been distracted on Tuesday. The appearance-obsessed president was arguably the biggest loser of all that day, as voters from California to New York City rejected his strongman approach to governing. Democrats didn’t just score victories in governors’ races and statehouses — they won by commanding margins.

Perhaps Hawkins hoped the national news cycle would obscure his fumble. No such luck.

Don’t let Republican leaders fool you, either. Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson have claimed that gerrymandering would be a top priority in 2026, but everyone knows the score. If you can’t gain a two-thirds majority of House members to call the special session, you’re unlikely to get a two-thirds majority of House members to support new maps in the regular session. Leaders might push ahead, forcing their rank and file on the record, but count me skeptical that a new map results.

Let’s call this proposed special session what it was: a waste of time, energy and money meant to serve one man’s ravening ego. MAGA-adjacent GOP officials grasped and clawed for attention from their withholding father figure in Washington, D.C. They ended up making themselves look ridiculous in front of a national audience.

We know Hawkins lost, but who ended up winning?

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, for one. Good ole’ “Doc” won’t have to face U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids next year. She was publicly flirting with making a Senate run if redistricted out of her seat. I suspect Marshall was less than eager to campaign against the popular Democrat.

Masterson, for another. He escaped the worst blame by pushing his chamber on board last month. His nascent gubernatorial campaign can double down on claims that he’s an effective leader. If only that pesky House speaker hadn’t fallen down on the job.

The national results from Tuesday surely weigh on leaders’ considerations as well. Kansas has elected Democrats to the U.S. House throughout the decades, and diluting Republican majorities in some districts to potentially swing others could lead to unexpected consequences.

“Trying to win more seats comes with a risk, because in order to win more seats, they have to draw districts more competitively,” University of Texas at Dallas professor Thomas Brunell told the Associated Press.

In smaller states, “you have fewer lines; you’re not going to be able to put them as far out of reach without creating opportunities elsewhere,” wonderfully named University of Chicago professor Moon Duchin added. “And so, yes, you have to do it really carefully because it can backfire.”

Two Democratic U.S. representatives? It’s happened before.

The real winners in all this are everyday Kansans. They’re the ones who don’t have to see their votes further diluted at the ballot box. Residents of Johnson County must feel relieved knowing they won’t be sliced and diced into two — or three — districts. Transgender Kansans, too, can rest for a least a couple more months without Republicans targeting their ability to change their gender markers on driver’s licenses.

Finally, the state treasury should see a reprieve. Nearly a half-million dollars had been budgeted for a prospective special session beginning Friday. That $460,000 will remain unspent for now.

Who knows? Legislators could use it to feed some hungry people.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.