Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) will call lawmakers back to Indianapolis on Nov. 3 to consider making changes to the state’s congressional district boundaries, adding the Hoosier State to the race to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
In a statement, Braun said he was convening a special session to address actions other states have taken to redraw their own boundaries — an unsubtle shot at California, where voters next week will decide whether to redraw their district lines to give Democrats an advantage of as many as five Republican-held districts.
“I am calling a special legislative session to protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair,” Braun said in the statement.
But unlike in other Republican-led states such as Texas and North Carolina, where legislative leaders approved new map lines on the strength of unified votes among Republican caucuses, it’s not clear that Indiana Republicans have mustered the same unanimity.
A spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) said last week — and again on Monday — that the chamber doesn’t have a sufficient number of votes to approve new lines. Several Senate Republicans have publicly backed redistricting efforts, but Republicans need 26 of the 40 GOP members to support a plan.
Braun had waited to call the special session until he received positive signals from Bray and House Speaker Todd Huston (R).
The White House has been especially active in wooing Indiana Republicans. Vice President J.D. Vance has visited Indianapolis twice to lobby lawmakers, and President Trump hosted some Indiana Republicans at the White House earlier this month, similar to meetings he held with Kansas and Missouri Republicans.
All 10 Senate Democrats are likely to object to the redistricting plan, though they are in such a deep minority that their attempts to derail the plan won’t succeed without Republican support.
“This is not democracy. This is desperation,” Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder (D) said in a statement. “Braun’s announcement confirms what we have feared all along. Indiana’s government has been hijacked by national operatives willing to shred every democratic norm to serve one man — Donald Trump.”
A Republican redistricting plan would most likely target Rep. Frank Mrvan’s (D) district in northwest Indiana, covering Gary, Valparaiso and Michigan City. The district favored then-Vice President Kamala Harris by a slim half-point margin in 2024, though Mrvan won re-election by a 53% to 45% vote.
That plan would probably take in Republican-heavy communities in neighboring districts held by Rep. Jim Baird (R), whose district favored Trump 64% to 34% in 2024, and Rep. Rudy Yakym (R), whose district favored Trump 62% to 36% last year.
A more ambitious plan could also target Rep. Andre Carson (D), who represents Indianapolis. That district voted for Harris by a 70% to 28% margin in 2024; to crack the most heavily Democratic stronghold in the state, Republicans would have to make major changes to districts held by Baird and Reps. Victoria Spartz (R) and Jefferson Shreve (R).
Jarred Meeks of Howey Politics Indiana contributed reporting.