Franklin County Court Judge Thomas Wingate ruled last week that the redistricting maps passed by the legislature in early 2022 are constitutional, if only because Kentucky’s constitution doesn’t prohibit partisan gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is when a political group tries to change a voting district to create a result that helps them or hurts those who are against them.
Kentucky Democrats filed the lawsuit in January, alleging partisan gerrymandering and excessive splitting of counties, specifically in Northern Kentucky. The legislature redraws the maps every 10 years.
“…the Kentucky Constitution does not explicitly prohibit the General Assembly from making partisan considerations during the apportionment process,” Wingate wrote in his ruling. “The Court acknowledges that other states’ constitutions prohibit partisan gerrymandering or assign redistricting to a nonpartisan committee, but this Court’s concern is only with the Kentucky Constitution.”
Wingate’s decision came two days after the midterm elections that saw the Republican supermajority gain additional seats — the House now holds 80 out of 100, where they previously had 75. The Senate gained one seat and will hold 31 out of 38.
Of the five House seats Democrats lost, one of those is in Northern Kentucky in House District 65. Incumbent Democrat Buddy Wheatley lost a close election to Republican Stephanie Dietz — 6,912 to 6,629 votes — in a district redrawn to favor more suburban precincts versus the more urban downtown Covington.
“If Buddy Wheatley’s seat is not redrawn in the way it was redrawn, he’s winning,” said Ryan Salzman, a Northern Kentucky University political science professor and Bellevue City Councilman, after the election.
Under the new redistricting maps, Wheatley lost the more urban parts of the area to more suburban districts, with one precinct going to Kim Banta (R-Fort Mitchell) in the 63rd. Other parts of Covington, particularly its eastern neighborhoods along the Licking River, shifted from the 65th to the 64th, represented by Kim Moser (R-Taylor Mill).
“The old portion of the 65th voted decisively for Democrat Buddy Wheatley; the new portion voted decisively for Stephanie Dietz,” said Kenton County Democratic Party Vice Chair Dave Meyer, elaborating that Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Charles Booker won the old 65th District roughly 60 to 40.
However, Kenton County Republican Chair Shane Noem told LINK nky Dietz won the election due to “candidate quality” and said voters agree with Republican economic philosophy.
“And where we are today with inflation, high gas prices, climbing and only going to climb higher next year,” Noem said. “Pocketbook issues really carry out at the end of the day when it comes to who you want, representing you in Frankfort or in Washington.”
But, former House Speaker Jeff Hoover said in a Tweet that Republican gains in the statehouse should be attributed to Tommy Druen, the creator of the new redistricting maps.
When Wingate issued his decision, current House Speaker David Osborne (R-Prospect) and Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) said that the decision proves that the maps were done fairly.
“Today’s ruling only confirms what those who worked on the redistricting process have known all along – that the redistricting plans passed during the 2022 Regular Session meet every legal and constitutional requirement,” Osborne said. “These plans are the product of a committed effort to meet all considerations while maximizing every community’s influence to the greatest extent possible.”
The Kentucky Democratic Party will likely take the case to the appellate level. Meyer believes that Wingate’s opinion that the constitution doesn’t ban partisan gerrymandering sets up a chance for the state Supreme Court to decide if they find unfairness in the electoral process in Kentucky.
“The court decision was basically an exercise in judicial humility from Judge Wingate,” Meyer said. “He found that there was extreme partisan gerrymandering, that the maps were unfair, and that they were drawn with the purpose of increasing the power and control of Republicans in the state legislature.”