Last week, Clarke Sanders got the news that he was being removed from his position as vice chair on the House Higher Education Budget Committee.

The reason, he decided not to play ball with Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, who had urged him to sign on for a special session to redraw boundaries in Kansas to promote election of more Republicans in November 2026.

Sanders is the Republican Representative for the 69th District and joined in on the KSAL Morning News Extra and says he thinks elections can be won around the state without redrawing the maps.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins removed holdouts from committee leadership roles including GOP Reps. Steven Howe of Salina, Nathan Butler of Junction City and Jesse Borjon of Topeka. Hawkins also removed Rep. Clarke Sanders of Salina and Rep. Leah Howell of Derby from vice chair positions.

The holdouts also had concerns about spending over $450,000 in taxpayer funds to convene the special session.

Listen to the full interview here with Clarke Sanders.