Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., is trying to force a vote on legislation that would ban states from redrawing congressional districts more than once every 10 years following the census unless ordered by federal court, arguing the practice fuels partisan escalation and instability.
Kiley introduced a discharge petition Tuesday, one of the few procedural tools lawmakers can use to bypass House leadership and place legislation directly before the House floor. His proposal would prohibit states from redrawing congressional maps more than once every 10 years after a census unless a federal court orders it.
Kiley has warned for months that midcycle redistricting could become a recurring political weapon if Congress does not act. In a letter to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., he stated: “This arms race could create a new norm where maps are redrawn to gain a temporary advantage every two years.”
He added: “The result will be chaos for our democracy: a weakening of representation, a further polarization of Congress, and a deepening of the distrust and division that threaten our country’s future.”
California’s latest congressional map shifted Kiley’s district into more Democratic territory, contributing to his decision earlier this year to leave the Republican Party and register as an independent.
Kiley said support from Jeffries and House Democrats could determine whether the petition succeeds. “I think it’s going to be dependent upon whether Leader Jeffries decides to stand by what he said, which is that we ought to end middecade redistricting,” Kiley said. “If he does, then I think we will have the support for a bipartisan solution here that will just say enough is enough.”
Some Democrats signaled support for the effort. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who was affected by redistricting changes this cycle, called middecade redistricting “immoral and unethical.” Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, whose district became more Republican-leaning after GOP-led changes, also said he would support the petition: “Why wouldn’t I? Both parties need to get behind ending this. It’s gonna kill the democracy.”
Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson criticized the proposal, arguing it would disadvantage Democratic-led states. “Kevin Kiley’s unserious legislation would supercharge partisan gerrymandering by Red states while putting Democratic-led ones at a serious disadvantage,” Stephenson said.
Kiley stated earlier this year: “Since gerrymandering seeks to elevate partisanship above everything else in our politics … the best way to counter gerrymandering and its insidious impacts on democracy is simply to take partisanship out of the equation.”
Republican state senators in Louisiana advanced a plan Wednesday to eliminate one of two majority-Black, Democrat-held congressional seats following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s U.S. House map as an illegal racial gerrymander. The vote came after hours of pleading from Black residents and Democrats opposed to the move. Republicans opted not to pursue a more aggressive approach that could have targeted both Democrat seats for elimination.
