Independent Rep. Kiley moves to force vote to ban mid-cycle redistricting
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Rep. Kevin Kiley on Feb. 20, 2025. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.) introduced a discharge petition Tuesday to force a House vote on his bill banning mid-cycle redistricting, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Discharge petitions are one of the few tools rank-and-file lawmakers can use to bypass House leadership and force legislation onto the floor. Six petitions have reached the required threshold this Congress.
- Kiley has spent months warning that mid-cycle redistricting could become a recurring partisan weapon if left unchecked.
- California's new map reshaped his once Republican-leaning district, pushing him into more Democratic territory — and prompting him to leave the GOP and become an Independent.
- Kiley's bill would prohibit states from redrawing congressional maps more than once every 10 years, after the census, unless a federal court orders it.
Driving the news: Kiley told Axios Wednesday that he sent a letter to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) urging him and his caucus to back the petition.
- "This arms race could create a new norm where maps are redrawn to gain a temporary advantage every two years," Kiley wrote to Jeffries in a letter obtained by Axios.
- "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."
Kiley said the petition's success will likely hinge on whether Jeffries backs the effort.
- "I think it's going to be dependent upon, you know, whether Leader Jeffries decides to stand by what he said, which is that we ought to end mid-decade redistricting," Kiley told Axios.
- "If he does, then I think we will have the support for a bipartisan solution here that will just say, enough is enough."
What they're saying: Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), who, like Kiley, got drawn out of his seat this cycle, said "of course" he would sign on to the discharge petition, calling mid-decade redistricting "immoral and unethical."
- Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), whose district was made more Republican-leaning by GOP state lawmakers last year, said he also would sign on: "Why wouldn't I? Both parties need to get behind ending this. It's gonna kill the democracy."
Yes, but: Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson said in a statement to Axios. "Kevin Kiley's unserious legislation would supercharge partisan gerrymandering by Red states while putting Democratic-led ones at a serious disadvantage.
- "Leader Jeffries has no plans to support it," Stephenson said.
Catch up quick: Kiley left the Republican party earlier this year to become an Independent. He framed the switch as a response to partisanship fueled by gerrymandering.
- "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," Kiley said in March.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
