FILE – Sen Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, speaks at a rally protesting redistricting at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
President Donald Trump’s hopes for a wave of red-state gerrymanders to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House in 2026 took a step closer to reality Monday, as the Indiana Senate Elections Committee voted 6–3 to advance a controversial mid-decade redistricting bill that would all but guarantee the GOP wins all nine of the state’s congressional seats.
The vote sends the gerrymander bill to the full Senate, where its fate remains uncertain amid deep Republican divisions and an unprecedented pressure campaign from Trump and his allies.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) has repeatedly said the upper chamber does not have enough Republicans supporting the measure for the map to pass, but Monday’s committee action marked the clearest sign yet that GOP leaders may still attempt to force a floor showdown later this week.
While states normally update their congressional maps once a decade following the census, Trump, facing ever uglier polling figures, ignited a mid-decade redistricting war over the summer, saying Republicans were “entitled” to five more seats in Texas. GOP lawmakers there quickly obliged, as they did in Missouri and North Carolina. But Indiana Republicans have resisted the call, leaving the ultimate outcome of this redistricting fight uncertain.
At least 16 of the 40 Republicans in the Senate could join with the chamber’s 10 Democrats to vote no — GOP Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith could break a 25-25 tie.
Heading into Monday’s hearing, 14 GOP state senators had come out against the redraw.
Ahead of the vote, 127 Hoosiers signed up to testify, considerably more than the few dozen who spoke ahead of the House vote, where all but two spoke against the new map. While most spoke in opposition Monday, more than a dozen urged the senate to adopt the redistricting measure.
“We must keep the Democratic Party from the levers of power until more reasonable factions have a chance to replace these despots,” said John Colburn, who called Democrats “tyrannical.”
Other Republicans spoke against the bill over the course of roughly four hours of public testimony. “For my entire voting life, I’ve cast votes for Republicans and libertarians. I voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and 2024, but today, I stand before you vehemently opposed to the mid-decade congressional redistricting plans pushed by House Republicans, a blatant power grab that I believe compromises the principles of our founding fathers,” said Ethan Hatcher. “It’s not just politics. It’s a calculated assault on fair representation, and echoes the grievances that ignited our nation’s birth.”
Kate Sweeney Bell, Marion County’s chief election official, spoke on behalf of her office to warn about the “havoc” the bill would unleash.
“The conservative estimate for the cost for Marion County alone to redistrict at this time is at least a million dollars,” Sweeney Bell said.
Sweeney Bell also noted that there were errors in the legislation, which mislabeled some precincts in Marion County. “That is recoverable using the census data,” she said. “What is not fixable without an amendment is that there are missing precincts altogether in this bill — missing precincts for Marion County.”
Sweeney Bell also noted that her office usually works overtime over a period of “12 to 13 months” to implement a normal redistricting. Should the General Assembly enact the redistricting, they’d have just “a third of the time, which means that there is not enough time to complete the process.”
The proposed map would split Indianapolis’ county across 4 congressional districts, eliminating two Democratic-leaning districts and all but ensuring Republicans win all 9 seats in the 2026 midterms. If adopted, the map will undoubtedly face lawsuits attacking it as an impermissible racial gerrymander, given the divvying up of a majority-minority district into 4 majority white districts. But the Supreme Court’s shadow docket decision last week overturning a lower court’s ruling that Texas had racially gerrymandered, suggests such legal challenges will be harder to win going forward.
Trump and his allies have put the screws to obstinate Indiana Republicans in recent weeks with a very public pressure campaign that has led to violent threats. After being targeted in a swatting incident, state Sen. Kyle Walker said he would not seek reelection next year. Another Republican state senator opposed to the redraw, Jean Leising, swore she would not give in to fear tactics, after her home was targeted with a pipe bomb threat.
Of the at least 11 GOP state senators who have reported threats, not one publicly supports the redraw.
Over the weekend, Turning Point Action, the Trump-aligned super PAC founded by the late Charlie Kirk, announced it would partner with other PACS to make an “eight figure spend” primarying Hoosier Republicans who opposed redistricting.
Around 45% of Indiana’s party-affiliated voters are Democrats.
The Indiana House approved the new map last week on a 57-41 vote, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.
*Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias’s law firm represented plaintiffs in this lawsuit.
