The Indiana House passed new Congressional maps Friday and sent them to the Senate, where the bill’s future is unclear since Senate leadership has stated multiple times since October it doesn’t have the votes.
House Bill 1032, which addresses mid-census redistricting and gives Republicans an advantage in all nine congressional districts, passed 57-41, with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats present in voting against the bill. State Rep. Tim Yocum, R-Clinton, voted against the bill in the House Elections and Apportionment Committee and on the House floor.
State Reps. Michael Aylesworth, R-Hebron; Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point; Hal Slager, R-Schererville, and Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso all voted in favor of mid-census redistricting.
State Reps. Mike Andrade, D-Munster; Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago; Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond; Chuck Moseley, D-Portage; Randy Novak, D-Michigan City; and Vernon Smith, D-Gary voted against mid-census redistricting.
During final reading of the bill, no Republican House member addressed the bill besides State Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, who authored the bill, and House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers.
States across the country are conducting mid-census redistricting, Huston said, which means Indiana should address the issue as well.
“This is the place we are right now. This is our time to act,” Huston said. “This is a challenging issue, one none of us took lightly. Not one of us didn’t have long, thoughtful, meaningful conversations about it.”
While it’s likely that state Republicans have talked about mid-census redistricting privately, Jackson said she found it “troubling” that none of the Republican House members have addressed the issue from the House floor.
“You may have said it at home, in your closet, in your basement, in the backroom where only you have heard it, but you have not said it here,” Jackson said. “You just come in here and you look solemn like you lost your best friend.”
While a risk, Slager said he voted in favor of mid-census redistricting because constituents in his area supported it.
“I still think it’s a risky gambit, but I still had reason to believe this is how my district wanted me to vote,” Slager said.
The risk, Slager said, is that the maps will be used in a midterm election without Trump on the ticket.
“I think we’ll be lucky to still come out 7-2. But who knows, we’ll find out,” Slager said.
It’s also likely that the bill will die in the Senate because it’s been reported that the Senate doesn’t have the votes, Slager said.
“It’s entirely possible that the Senate not pass this and that’s the end of it,” Slager said.
Aylesworth said he supported the bill because of Huston’s comments about other states taking up mid-census redistricting.
“I think it all made good sense,” Aylesworth said. “I was undecided until today.”
Aylesworth said he heard from Republican constituents who supported the bill and Democratic constituents who were against the bill.
While he didn’t want to speculate about the Senate, Aylesworth said he hopes the chamber passes the bill.
“Hopefully, they don’t endorse any changes to the map we approved,” Aylesworth said.
House Bill 1032 would allow the legislature to amend congressional districts “at a time other than the first regular session of the general assembly convening immediately following the United States decennial census.”
The bill also establishes new Congressional districts, and states that any challenges to the new maps will be heard by the state’s Supreme Court, thus preventing county judges from blocking the new maps.
The bill states that the current Congressional Districts won’t expire before Nov. 3, 2026.
In committee Tuesday, Smaltz said Indiana is taking up mid-census redistricting because of that action across the country, including Texas, California, Virginia and Missouri. The constitution allows for Congressional Districts to be drawn with political consideration in mind, he said.
The map was drawn by the National Republican Redistricting Trust using data from the last three presidential elections and the last two Indiana U.S. Senator, Secretary of State and Attorney General elections, Smaltz said.
“These maps were drawn for political purposes and advantage,” Smaltz said.
While Republicans have stated the maps are for political advantage, Hatcher said the map is discriminatory because it only impacts the minority-majority areas of Indiana.
“They echo a broader pattern, one where certain communities are expected to contribute economically, culturally, civically, yet remain limited in the power that they are allowed to hold,” Hatcher said.
Drawing districts in Indiana has consequences as “it’s a measure of whose voices are valued, whose are managed,” Hatcher said.
In a statement, Hatcher said Northwest Indiana “knows something about lines.”
“We know about lines that separate, exclude, and contain. We know about lines as tools of power, not justice. This isn’t new for our community,” Hatcher said.
For three and a half hours, Democratic House members urged Republicans to vote against the bill, stating that Republicans hold the majority of Congress and the White House, Hoosiers don’t support mid-census redistricting and the precedent the bill sets.
“The precedent this sets moving forward is that redrawing our congressional maps is simply a free for all. Whoever is in power can do whatever they want to make sure they stay in power. This will cause irreparable harm to public trust in the ability of our government to act out of anything but self-interest,” Jackson said in a statement.
The proposed map will dilute and disenfranchise minority voters throughout the state, Harris said.
“There is nothing positive I can say about this map proposal or how House Republicans have conducted themselves this week,” Harris said in a statement. “They have put politics ahead of Hoosiers, and there is no forgiving that.”
The map splits Northwest Indiana between two districts, Andrade said. U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, who serves in the current First District, has represented the region well, Andrade said.
“(Mrvan) continues to stand up for us despite being unwanted in our state by Republicans in Indianapolis who know nothing about The Region,” Andrade said in a statement. “These maps undermine the voice of the people and denounce a community that has contributed enormously to our state.”
Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement that Hoosiers “deserve to have their say on the issues of the day” but their voices are “drowned out” by redistricting efforts in Democratic-led states.
Rokita said his office is prepared to address any potential lawsuits against the new map, particularly in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday that Texas can use its newly passed map that gives the state five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“This specific map is legally solid. If any group or individual is silly enough to sue, we will defeat their attack in court. As the United States Supreme Court emphasized once again last night, redistricting for political reasons is constitutional,” Rokita said.
Indiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Tallian said in a statement the Republican supermajority in the House “took itself to a new low by passing clearly gerrymandered maps that seek to silence and ignore the wishes of their own constituents.”
Multiple polls have found that Hoosiers don’t support mid-census redistricting.
“No Hoosier could possibly think these maps keep communities together. They split Indianapolis in four pieces, split up the Region, and divide communities that are linked together, like the steelmaking communities of Lake and Porter counties,” Tallian said.
House Democrats offered 15 amendments, all of which failed, during second reading on Thursday. The amendments offered protection for minority voters, different approaches to redistricting, and addressed fiscal implications of the bill.
A few hours before gaveling in Monday, the House released its proposed map that splits the current First District into two districts, and the Seventh District, currently held by U.S. Rep. André Carson, D-Indianapolis, into four districts.
President Donald Trump and his administration has asked Republican-led states to undertake mid-census redistricting to maintain the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Redistricting typically occurs every 10 years after the release of census data. The Indiana constitution dictates that the legislature should take up redistricting every 10 years after census data is released.
In response to Trump’s request, Texas conducted mid-census redistricting to give Republicans five more seats, to which California responded with voter-approved mid-census redistricting to create five more seats.
In August, Vice President J.D. Vance met with state Republicans to discuss redistricting in Indiana. Ultimately, after more meetings and discussions with federal officials, Gov. Mike Braun called for a special session to address redistricting.
Both chambers of the Indiana legislature agreed to meet Dec. 1 to discuss redistricting. Ahead of Organization Day, Nov. 18, Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, announced the Senate does not have the votes to pass new maps and canceled the Senate’s December session.
The Senate has been a hurdle for mid-census redistricting as Bray has stated multiple times since October that his chamber doesn’t have the votes to pass new maps. Instead, Bray said Senate Republicans believe a better option would be to support a strong Republican candidate in the First District in the upcoming midterm elections.
After swatting calls against several Senate Republicans, including Senators Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, and Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, Bray said the Senate will reconvene Dec. 8 to review and vote on redistricting legislation passed by the House.
Senator Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, chairman of the Senate Committee on Elections and Senate sponsor of the bill, said in a statement Friday that Indiana’s representation in Congress “has been watered down” by redistricting efforts in Democratic-led states.
“I am committed to advocating for this bill that will more fairly represent Hoosiers at the federal level,” Gaskill said. “I vow to foster a civil debate as we review this bill in the Senate.”
Senate Democratic Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said in a statement Friday that House Bill 1032 “is about silencing Hoosiers and diminishing representation.”
“This bill tears apart communities, strips voters of representation they voted for and hands control to national figures who are more interested in cementing absolute power rather than solving any problems,” Yoder said.
While opposition to mid-census redistricting has been strong in the Senate, it will be interesting to watch what happens when the Senators have to cast a vote, Indiana University Indianapolis professor of political science Aaron Dusso.
The Senators will face immense pressure as the Trump administration and national Republicans watch the process unfold, Dusso said. Trump has threatened to primary any Senator who votes against the bill, Dusso said.
But, the Senate’s decision boils down to defending a Republican advantage map of seven Republican seats to two Democratic seats in the U.S. House or supporting a map that gives Republicans an advantage in all nine districts, Dusso said.
“Let’s not put them up on a pedestal that this is the fight for democracy. Ultimately, it’s a choice between ‘we’re guaranteed a lot’ and ‘do we want to risk even more to gain everything,’” Dusso said. “The pragmatic side of the Republican Party is saying, ‘well, we’ve got a ton, and we don’t really even have to work to get that ton, so let’s just stay there.’”
akukulka@post-trib.com
