In Indianapolis, Indiana’s state senators have moved forward with a proposal to redraw the state’s congressional districts. However, it’s uncertain if the measure will secure enough support to pass in a final vote set for later this week, despite persistent encouragement from former President Donald Trump.
The proposed redistricting plan is designed to boost Republican candidates in the upcoming midterm elections. While Republicans hold the majority in the state Senate, many members are either reluctant or openly resistant to mid-decade redistricting. Several senators have faced threats due to their stance or reluctance to voice immediate support.
The Senate panel voted 6-3 in favor of advancing the proposal, with opposition from one Republican and two Democratic lawmakers.
A full chamber vote is anticipated on Thursday, which could challenge Trump’s usual strong influence over the Republican Party.
During Monday night’s committee debate, state Senator Greg Walker, a Republican from Indiana who opposes the redistricting, spoke about the threats he has received. In recent weeks, around a dozen Indiana legislators have reported similar threats amid the ongoing redistricting discussions.
“I refuse to be intimidated,” Walker declared passionately during the elections committee meeting. “I fear for all states if we allow intimidation and threats to become the norm.”
The map, introduced just last Monday and passed by the Republican supermajority in the state House on Friday, would split the city of Indianapolis into four districts distributed across other Republican-leaning areas. It also groups the cities of East Chicago and Gary with a broad rural region.
The contours would eliminate the districts of Indiana’s two Democratic congressional representatives: longtime Rep. André Carson of Indianapolis, the state’s only Black member of Congress, and Rep. Frank Mrvan, who represents northwest Indiana near Chicago.
Republicans currently hold seven of the state’s nine districts.
Why redistricting?
Democrats are hoping to flip control of the U.S. House in the 2026 elections and they like their odds, since midterms tend to favor the party out of power.
Redistricting usually happens once a decade after the census, but Trump has pushed Republican-led states to create more GOP-leaning districts. Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina have followed suit, while Democrats in California and Virginia have moved to draw their own favorable maps.
Not many states, outside of those with smaller or single-member congressional delegations, are represented solely by one party.
Republicans in favor of making Indian’s map 9-0 through gerrymandering often point to Massachusetts, where Democrats hold all nine seats, or Connecticut, where they hold all five. Republicans hold all five Oklahoma seats and eight of Tennessee’s nine seats, while Democrats hold seven of Maryland’s eight seats.
But the idea of redrawing a congressional map last approved in 2021 has made many Republicans in Indiana uneasy, particularly in the Senate. The chamber’s leader previously said there were not enough votes to support redistricting, and the current vote count is unclear.
The Senate elections committee heard testimony Monday afternoon on the legislation, with 127 people signing up to voice their opinion.
The White House has upped the pressure on Indiana. Vice President JD Vance visited Indianapolis twice since August, and legislative leaders met with Trump in the Oval Office earlier this year.
After Senate leader Rodric Bray said the chamber would reject the governor’s call for a special session on redistricting, Trump attacked Bray and other senators on social media and vowed to endorse primary challengers against any lawmaker who opposes redrawing the map.
In the following weeks, about a dozen state lawmakers were targeted by threats and swatting incidents, in which a hoax call attempts to prompt a police response to a private home.
Redistricting proponents need at least 25 votes in the 50-member Senate to give final passage to the map. That would trigger a tiebreaking vote from Republican Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who supports redistricting.
If the Senate rejects the new districts, it would be extremely difficult for proponents to revive the issue. Indiana’s filing deadline for congressional candidates is in early February, and primary elections are held in early May.
National redistricting battle
In Utah, lawmakers on Tuesday will try to reassert authority over congressional redistricting by convening a special legislative session.
A judge ruled in November that a map advanced by state lawmakers earlier this year “unduly favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats.” The judge imposed an alternative map that would keep Democratic-leaning Salt Lake County almost entirely within one district rather than split between the four Republican-leaning districts.
The legislative session’s agenda includes pushing back next year’s filing deadlines from January to March, buying time until after a potential ruling on redistricting by the state Supreme Court.
“I support the state’s appeal and have confidence the Utah Supreme Court will consider it in a timely way,” Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said Sunday, “so we have clarity for the 2026 election.”
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Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan. Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, and David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report.
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