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FRANKFORT. (AP) - Despite a string of passionate appeals, the Democratic majority in the Kentucky House refused Thursday to change a proposed legislative redistricting plan that hits GOP lawmakers especially hard.

The House voted 63-34 to approve the divisive proposal after rejecting a GOP-generated alternative that would have eliminated some of the oddly shaped districts in which Republicans would be pitted against each other in this year's legislative elections.

Republican Floor Leader Jeff Hoover said a legal challenge is a possibility on constitutional grounds if the measure isn't overhauled in the GOP-controlled Senate where it now goes for consideration.

"We will look at any and all options that may be available to challenge it," Hoover said.

The plan sets up potential Republican vs. Republican races in three House districts. One unfortunate Republican would face powerful House Democratic Floor Leader Rocky Adkins in northeastern Kentucky.

Reacting to heated criticism, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said population changes, not politics, necessitated the redistricting plan that could receive a vote by the full Senate as early as next week.

"Nothing is done in this bill is an attempt at malice," said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg. "Nothing is done in this bill to be blatantly unfair to any person. Nothing in this bill is done to do anything other than what we are charged to do."

The proposal puts Reps. Myron Dossett of Pembroke and Forrest Waide of Madisonville together in the 9th District. Reps. Mike Harmon of Danville and Kim King of Harrodsburg would share the 54th District. Reps. C.B. Embry Jr. of Morgantown, Jim DeCesare of Rockfield and Michael Meredith of Brownsville would be together in the 17th District. All are Republicans.

Even Hoover would be paired with a yet-to-be-decided incumbent in the 83rd District under the House proposal. Republican Rep. Jill York of Grayson would face Adkins in the 99th District.

The shuffling produced some oddly shaped state House districts. The 89th stretches from the Tennessee border in McCreary County, zigzags narrowly through Laurel County, then encompasses all of Jackson County.

Stumbo said population losses in rural eastern and western Kentucky caused many of those districts to expand geographically, while population increases in urban areas of central and northern Kentucky caused some to contract. At least three traditional Republican counties would be divided among multiple House districts. Lewis County has been split among three districts, while Laurel and Pulaski counties were split among four.

The House also rubberstamped a proposal from the Kentucky Supreme Court and Court of Appeals on Thursday to redraw judicial boundaries. Lawmakers made no changes to that proposal that had been presented by Chief Justice John Minton.

The state House had passed a congressional redistricting plan Tuesday that would put Kentucky's longest serving congressman, Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, in a vastly reshaped district. Under that proposal, Rogers home county would be split and he would live on the southwestern edge of the 5th District that he has represented in Congress for some 30 years.

That proposal is almost certain to face changes in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is beloved in his mountainous district where voters have made him the longest serving Republican ever elected to federal office in Kentucky. Democrats recognize his political strength and have mounted no serious challenge against him in nearly 20 years. But they want to be ready when the 74-year-old retires.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)