Senior Editor David Wasserman contributed to this report.
In last year’s round of redistricting, Kentucky Republicans faced a difficult choice: gamble on a clean sweep gerrymander that might get nixed by state courts, or continue to cede Democrats the 3rd District and strengthen their foothold in the remaining five seats. At the behest of the state’s federal Republicans — including Sen. Mitch McConnell — they ultimately opted to do the latter. The new map nudged Rep. Andy Barr’s 6th District from Trump +9 to Trump +11, hoping to take his seat off the playing field entirely after a tight 2018 race. As a result, Kentucky didn’t see any general election action last cycle, with all six representatives winning their races by over 20 points. Most attention instead turned to the state’s referendum on whether to establish a constitutional ban on abortion, which failed 52%-48%.
But Democrats still took issue with Republicans’ redraw, insisting that the current boundaries continue to impose a preordained 5-1 partisan advantage for the GOP. They sued in state court, making two claims: that the map needlessly
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