Indiana House members are expected to press forward Monday with redrawing the state’s congressional districts in Republicans’ favor, increasing pressure on their defiant counterparts in the GOP-led Senate to meet President Donald Trump’s demands.
Republicans who control the House have said there's no doubt that redistricting will pass that chamber. But the fate of any proposal remains uncertain in the Senate. Republicans control that chamber, but caucus members have resisted pressure to redistrict for months.
Senate leadership recently backed off its previous intentions not to meet at all, agreeing to convene next Monday. However, it's still unclear whether enough senators will support a new map.
Republicans hold seven of Indiana’s nine U.S. House seats. Trump and other Republicans want to make the map 9-0 in the GOP's favor, seeking to give the party two extra seats in the 2026 elections that will determine control of the U.S. House. Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats to overcome the Republicans' current margin.
Indiana House Republicans published a draft of a map Monday morning still featuring nine congressional districts, but with new boundaries designed to oust the state's two Democratic U.S. House members.
The city of Indianapolis would be split among four congressional districts, a major change to the current map where the city makes up the entirety of the 7th District, which reliably backs Democrats.
“It’s clear these orders are coming from Washington, and they clearly don’t know the first thing about our community,” longtime U.S. Rep. André Carson, a Democrat who represents Indianapolis, said in a statement.
Indiana’s other current Democratic district is in the state’s northwest corner near Chicago. The new map would instead group a large portion of Republican counties in northern Indiana with the cities of East Chicago and Gary to make a new 1st Congressional District.
The state House will meet Monday afternoon to begin the legislative process to advance the new map.
Indiana lawmakers have been under mounting pressure from the White House to redistrict, like Republicans in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina have done. To offset the GOP gains, Democrats in California and Virginia have moved to do the same.
But some Indiana Republicans have been far more resistant. Republicans in the state Senate rebelled against Republican Gov. Mike Braun in November and said they would not attend a special session he ordered on redistricting.
The chamber's top Republican, President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, at the time said the Senate did not have the votes. A spokesperson for Bray’s office did not respond Friday when asked if that is still the case.
Meanwhile, Trump attacked Indiana senators on social media, particularly Bray. He swore to endorse primary opponents of defecting senators. A spree of threats and swatting attempts were subsequently made against lawmakers who either said they do not support redistricting or have not taken a stance. At least one lawmaker in favor of redistricting and Braun was also threatened.
Last week, the House announced plans to convene in Indianapolis on Monday.
“All legislative business will be considered beginning next week, including redrawing the state’s congressional map,” House Speaker Todd Huston said in a statement Tuesday.
The Indiana Senate, where several lawmakers objected to leadership's refusal to hold a vote, then said members would reconvene Dec. 8.
“The issue of redrawing Indiana’s congressional maps mid-cycle has received a lot of attention and is causing strife here in our state,” Bray said in a statement Tuesday. He said the Senate will finally decide the matter this month.
Mid-cycle redistricting so far has resulted in nine more congressional seats that Republicans believe they can win and six more congressional seats that Democrats think they can win, putting the GOP up by three. However, redistricting is being litigated in several states, and there’s no guarantee that the parties will win the seats they’ve redrawn.
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Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan.
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