Now, in direct contrast to the governor's thoughts on redistricting, former state Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer says map redrawing in Kentucky could be a done deal in a handful of days.

And he says if he were still around in Frankfort, he'd make a push for it.

Do you think there should be redistricting in the middle of of a cycle, as it were, for a census?

Yes, absolutely.

And if I were still the majority leader, I'd be pushing to redo the congressional map.

And look why I love Morgan McGarvey.

He's a good friend of mine.

We talk all the time.

But Newsome opened this can of worms.

And I think if they're going to try to get Congress back through redistricting, so should we.

And I will tell you right now, there is a map that exists that we considered but decided not to do that creates six Republican leaning seats in Kentucky.

But she decided to do it because.

Why?

Well, at the time, it just seemed like the right thing to do to continue the the tradition of the third district being fully encompassed in Louisville.

Was it the fact that Republicans were concerned about being competitive and in a newly redrawn district?

I mean, we're required more on their part to sway those voters.

The demography of this state is you can draw six districts, and most of them are going to be R plus ten to R plus 20.

Well, so Democrats outnumber Republicans in that third district 314,000.

Democrats 270,000 registered Republicans.

Oh, I'm aware of the numbers in the current third Congressional District.

So right in the current.

But you can cut it up.

There's nothing.

There's nothing in the statute or the Constitution that says Louisville in Jefferson County has to be included in one congressional district, right?

Well, because we know that the first is pretty vast.

It is there's less population to to be spread out, you know.

All the districts have to be equal.

And but don't you have to rob from some to get to.

It would be a completely new map.

And you've seen some of them out there on the internet.

But I know that there is a map that would withstand statutory and constitutional muster that would create six Republican districts in Kentucky.

Just because you can, does it mean you should that I agree with that statement.

But you should say the same thing to Gavin Newsom, who's just trying to run for president and, you know, do his tweets in all caps so he can get people's attention.

And he's trying to show that he's standing up to Trump because he wants to be the next president.

United States, which is just a ghastly idea to me.

So I you know, normally I agree with you.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

But the stakes have been raised, and I think the future of this country is at stake.

And, you know, I don't want to go back to the policies of Obama and Biden under someone like Gavin Newsom, who's young and vigorous and an extreme left wing liberal.

And I think he's been wrong for California, and he would be wrong for this country, given that coming up in 2026, it is a budget year.

Is there enough bandwidth to do both a budget and redistricting, along with other things that you'll have to address?

You could.

I keep saying you because I'm still there.

I'm not going to be there.

I'll be in other state capitals, but Frankfurt will be among them.

You could pass the redistricting map in five days.

It's not that hard.

I mean, the map is already out there, right?

It's just a matter of whether they choose to do it or not.

And they, and they may not.

Something to keep our eyes on for sure.

Kentucky's next regular lawmakin