FRANKFORT, Ky. — The first legal challenge aimed at Kentucky's new legislative maps was filed on Thursday.

Filed in Franklin County, the lawsuit alleges that the State House and U.S. Congressional redistricting maps proposed by Republicans violate four sections of the Kentucky constitution. The Kentucky Democratic Party joined a group of Franklin County residents in the lawsuit.

The suit was filed moments after Republicans in Frankfort overrode Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of the maps. KDP Chair Colmon Elridge blasted the two maps as "unconstitutional" and "partisan."

“These maps were drawn behind closed doors with no public input to silence the voices of hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians,” Elridge said in a press release. “We are joining residents who are disenfranchised by these gerrymandered districts to stop this partisan power grab."

Elridge said the maps intentionally slice up cities and counties, specifically to reduce the number of women serving in the House and "dilute the voices of minority communities."

“The General Assembly’s focus in creating these district maps wasn’t representation or democracy or even legality – their focus was on partisan politics, which is why they unnecessarily sliced up so many counties,” said plaintiff Joseph Smith. “Why else would I, a Franklin County resident, be sorted into the same congressional district as Paducah? I should pick my representatives, they shouldn’t pick me.”

Other plaintiffs focused on the secrecy and lack of public participation in the redistricting process, which Republicans with supermajorities in both chambers hold full control and veto override power over for the first time.

“I believe the best legislation comes from public participation, but it’s clear the General Assembly kept their redistricting plan a secret until days before they passed it because it violates both the Constitution and the trust we place in our representatives,” said plaintiff Mary Lynn Collins. “Their maps weaken my voice, my representation and my vote by placing me and my neighbors in a gerrymandered district that stretches for hundreds of miles to the Mississippi River.”

Gov. Beshear vetoed the maps in question on Wednesday, but Republicans voted swiftly to override both vetoes on Thursday. The now-pending legal action aims to have the maps declared unconstitutional and invalid.

One sticking point of the lawsuit is the odd shape of Congressional District 1, which would snake all the way from far-Western Paducah to Franklin County in central Kentucky, roughly 300 miles away.

The likely beneficiary of the redrawn boundaries would be 6th District GOP Rep. Andy Barr, the only Kentucky congressman to face a tough reelection campaign in recent years. Shifting Franklin County out of the 6th would likely change the political calculus in what has long been a swing district.

Another sticking point in the suit cited successful challenges in other states. Just last week, Ohio's Supreme Court ruled its Republican-drawn maps were unconstitutional and must be redrawn.

The bills’ defenders have expressed confidence that the once-a-decade map-making work would hold up against any lawsuit.