TOPEKA, Kan., June 9 (UPI) -- Federal judges drew new district lines in Kansas affecting every member of Congress and the state legislature, leaving numerous seats without incumbents.
The new boundaries had Republican and Democratic leaders rushing to find candidates before a filing deadline of noon Monday for the August primary, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star reported.
"It's probably the most disruptive redistricting in Kansas history," said Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the state's chief elections officer.
With the new lines, 25 of the 125 state House seats now lack incumbents, and more than 40 incumbents could face races with other House members. In the Senate, four of the 40 seats have no incumbents in the new maps and four new districts will have more than one incumbent.
Under state law, candidates must be residents of their legislative districts when they file for candidacy.
New boundaries weren't expected to threaten the seats of the four incumbent members of Congress, all Republicans.
The state legislature is required to redraw districts every 10 years based on population shifts revealed by the Census.
Gov. Sam Brownback made it plain he sought more conservatives in the state Senate to support his agenda.
Lawmakers battled over how the districts should be drawn, with conservatives saying moderates were trying to draw districts that excluded conservative challengers and moderates saying Brownback and his supporters had targeted them.
The three judges who drew the new lines criticized the legislature for not completing the maps.
"While legislators publicly demurred that they had done the best they could, the impasse resulted from a bitter ideological feud -- largely over the new Senate districts," the judges wrote in an opinion.
"Failing consensus, the process degenerated into blatant efforts to gerrymander various districts for ideological political advantage and to serve the political ambitions of various legislators."