In Indiana, an intense debate is unfolding over the redrawing of congressional district boundaries.
Former President Donald Trump has called on state legislators to get involved in the process.
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The goal for the Republican Party is to expand their presence in a state where they already control seven out of nine congressional seats.
Currently, Democrats hold one of these seats in the First Congressional District, encompassing all of Lake and Porter counties and a portion of LaPorte County in Northwest Indiana.
A newly proposed map aims to alter this configuration. The Indiana House approved the proposal on Friday, and it will soon be reviewed by the Senate.
Dr. Jennifer Hora, a political science expert at Valparaiso University, is closely analyzing the situation.
“President Trump is pushing really hard for Republican controlled legislatures to do that redistricting. And we’ve seen that in several different states. In particular, it seems they’ve really focused on Indiana,” Hora said. “In the last couple of months, Vice President Vance has actually visited our statehouse twice to talk to legislators. That is not normal.”
Bryan Zarou is the vice president of policy for the Better Government Association in Chicago. He says the BGA believes there should be independent commissions to draw congressional maps.
“These commissions that create nonpartisan, fair maps, in other words. We tried to do this a few years ago in Illinois, didn’t work out too well. But the main goal of politicians, whoever’s in power, is to create as much advantage for themselves as possible. So, we’ve seen that happen in Illinois; we’re seeing that happen in Texas. They do two things: they try to gain as many seats as possible by gaming, or using a political science term, packing and crackling the districts. And they also do it in a way where they can at least get by the court scrutiny of their state so they can actually pass it and that’s what we did in Illinois,” Zarou said.
Hora says Indiana has become a focus of this redistricting effort for a couple of reasons.
“In particular, we have a Republican governor, as well as a Republican House and a Republican Senate. And not only Republican, but supermajority in both. Seventy of our 100 members of the Indiana House are Republican and 40 of the 50 Senators are Republican,” Hora said.
Hora says Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has been very outspoken, encouraging lawmakers to approve the redistricting. She says the goal is for Republicans to hold all nine of Indiana’s Congressional seats.
When it comes to redistricting in states across the country, Zarou calls it a “race to the bottom.”
“You have these gerrymandered maps where politicians are choosing their voters,” Zarou said.
And Zarou asks, “If everyone is doing this, what incentive is there, when people go to Congress, to start compromising with each other?”
He says those at the top need to stop fueling this kind of redistricting. And, he says, Congress needs to make sure every state has an independent commission.
