Independent Rep. Kiley moves to force vote to ban midcycle redistricting

Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.) introduced a discharge petition Tuesday to force a House vote on his bill banning midcycle 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 in this Congress.

• Kiley has spent months warning that midcycle 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 likely hinges 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.

The intrigue: Former Democratic Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (Texas) introduced the same legislation to ban mid-cycle redistricting in the last Congress.

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.