The Indiana legislature plans to reconvene in early December to vote on mid-census redistricting, leaders for both legislative chambers said Tuesday, marking a reversal from last week.
Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, said in a statement Tuesday that House Republicans will gavel in on Dec. 1, reconvening the 2026 regular session, to consider all legislative business “including redrawing the state’s congressional map.”
FILE – Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray speaks in the Senate chamber at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/AJ Mast, File)
The Indiana Senate will reconvene Dec. 8 to “resolve” the issue of mid-census redistricting, Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, announced Tuesday, just days after at least seven Republican Senators received swatting calls and other threats.
“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. “To resolve this issue, the Senate intends to reconvene as part of the regular 2026 session on Dec. 8 and make a final decision that week on any redistricting proposal sent from the House.”
Bray and Huston both said that because the 2026 session is starting in December, the 2026 legislative session will conclude by the end of February. Typically, the legislative session ends in late March in non-budget years.
Gov. Mike Braun said Tuesday he’s grateful that the legislature will convene “to vote on fair maps.”
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun speaks at the Gary/Chicago International Airport, Oct. 30, 2025. He has called a special session to redraw the state’s House map. (Michael Gard/for the Post-Tribune)
“Hoosiers deserve to have fair representation in Washington and now the General Assembly needs to deliver a 9-0 map which will help level the playing field,” Braun said.
Redistricting typically occurs every 10 years after the release of census data. In Indiana, any piece of legislation, including new Congressional maps, has to be passed by the House and Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.
Indiana was last redistricted in 2021, which left Congressional Republicans with seven seats to the Democrats’ two seats. The Democratic seats are Northwest Indiana’s First District, held by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan of Highland, and the Seventh District, held by U.S. Rep. André Carson of Indianapolis, which encompasses most of Indianapolis and Marion County.
The Senate’s announcement is a sharp shift from Bray’s stance that the chamber wouldn’t meet to discuss mid-census redistricting because it doesn’t have the votes to pass the measure.
U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, speaks during a press conference in the Indiana Statehouse rotunda following a visit by Vice President JD Vance in Indianapolis, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
A spokeswoman for Bray did not immediately respond when asked if the Senate had the votes, as of Tuesday, to pass new Congressional maps.
Chair of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus State Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, said in a statement that Hoosiers haven’t reached out to legislators with sentiments of support for mid-census redistricting.
“Hoosiers don’t want redistricting; they want a better quality of life. Instead of working to make life more affordable for Hoosiers, Indiana Republicans are focusing their efforts on appeasing Washington D.C.,” Harris said. “If the state were to pass new congressional maps, the move would cause chaos for county clerks and local governments and unnecessary confusion for voters.”
Senate Democratic Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said Republicans have decided to move forward with mid-census redistricting to appease Trump.
“Our democracy does not survive when fear becomes policy. It does not survive when a state abandons its own people to serve the ambitions of one man. It does not survive when politicians cheat to win, cutting voters completely out of the process,” Yoder said.
The Senate held a rare vote on Organization Day, Nov. 18, to return on Jan. 5, 2026, which effectively ended any chance of passing new Congressional maps, which President Donald Trump and his administration have been pressuring Indiana to do since August.
After Organization Day, Bray said the Senate would rather support a Republican candidate in the First Congressional District to “give President Trump another Republican in Congress” as opposed to mid-census redistricting.
“We don’t believe the choice to redistrict is a binary choice where we will either keep a 7-2 map or draw one that automatically becomes 9-0,” Bray said. “I’ve had the honor to speak with the President on this issue, and I have expressed to him that our caucus is supportive of him and wants to maintain Republican control of the House, which is why we believe pursuing Congressional District 1 is the best way forward.”
Braun called for a special legislative session to “consider altering the boundaries of Indiana’s congressional districts” and federal and state tax compliance beginning Nov. 3, according to a news release. The Indiana Senate announced Nov. 14 that it canceled a two-week session to discuss mid-census redistricting because of a lack of votes.
Two days after the cancellation announcement, Trump issued a statement on his social media site Truth Social calling out “RINO” Bray and (Greg) Goode “for not wanting to redistrict their state, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats.”
Bray, Goode and other Republican Senators “should DO THEIR JOB, AND DO IT NOW! If not, let’s get them out of office ASAP,” Trump wrote.
Hours after Trump posted his comment, Goode received a false swatting call. After Organization Day, when the Senate voted to reconvene in January, seven more State Senators – Dan Dernulc, Spencer Deery, Rick Niemeyer, Kyle Walker, Greg Walker, Linda Rogers and Andy Zay – received swatting calls as of Friday afternoon.
Braun, in a Friday statement condemning the swatting calls, said he and his family have been threatened as well.
akukulka@post-trib.com
