President Trump’s monthslong effort to convince Indiana Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional map is expected to reach a resolution on Thursday, with a divided State Senate set to vote on boundaries that would position Republicans to flip the state’s only two U.S. House seats held by Democrats.
Despite Republicans holding 40 of the 50 seats in the Indiana Senate, and despite Mr. Trump and his allies threatening political consequences for Republicans who do not fall in line, passage of the new map is no sure thing.
Indiana, which Mr. Trump carried by about 19 percentage points last year, emerged as an early target in the off-cycle redistricting war that started this summer with Texas Republicans. But as lawmakers in other states, both Republicans and Democrats, voted for new maps meant to boost their party in the midterms, a critical mass of Indiana Republicans resisted for months.
Mr. Trump has pledged to back primary challengers against Republicans who vote against the map, and has singled out some senators on social media. The fight in Indiana is an attempt to boost Republicans’ odds of a congressional majority but has also become a test of Mr. Trump’s ability to get what he wants from rank-and-file Republican officials.
The Indiana House of Representatives passed the map last week with most but not all Republicans voting in favor. The Senate has long been seen as the more challenging chamber for the proposed map, as several long-serving Republicans have voiced skepticism.
Opponents have described the map as a legally questionable and morally flawed political exercise that prioritizes partisanship over cohesive district boundaries. Indianapolis, the state’s Democratic stronghold, would be carved into four districts, all of which meander into the state’s conservative countryside. Some Democrats have questioned whether splitting up Indianapolis, which has significant Black and Hispanic populations, would amount to an illegal racial gerrymander.
“By any standard of good governance, this is an unprecedented and profoundly cynical exercise of political power,” State Senator J.D. Ford, a Democrat who opposes redistricting, said during a committee hearing. “And it’s the old phrase: Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.”
Republican supporters of the plan have framed the new map as a way to offset gerrymandering by Democrats in other states and boost the odds of a Republican majority in Congress. Some of them have spoken in dire terms about what it might mean for the country if Democrats take control of the U.S. House.
“This is about our country and our future,” State Senator R. Michael Young, a Republican who supports redistricting, said on the Senate floor this week.
The debate in Indianapolis has been marred by threats and swatting attempts against Republican lawmakers on both sides of the redistricting fight.
“I refuse to be intimidated,” State Senator Greg Walker, a Republican who opposes redistricting, who reported a swatting incident at his home, said in a committee hearing this week. “I made a choice. I will not let Indiana or any state become subject to the threat of political violence in order to influence legislative product.”
U.S. Representative Frank Mrvan, a Democrat from northwest Indiana, said he had “great admiration and empathy for the state senators who have held their ground.” Under the proposed map, Mr. Mrvan would go from representing a compact, purplish congressional district to running in a far more sprawling and conservative one.
“Never before in my lifetime have I seen the form of violence and intimidation toward a public official in Indiana that chooses to do what they believe is right,” Mr. Mrvan said.
After Texas passed a new map to boost Republicans over the summer, several other states entered the redistricting fray. California voters approved a Democratic plan to counter the Texas gerrymander. Republicans in Missouri and North Carolina also passed new maps, and Virginia Democrats started a remapping process.
But in recent weeks, skepticism about the tit-for-tat map drawing has spread within both political parties. Several Kansas Republicans scuttled a plan to call a special session for redistricting, and Maryland Democrats have been publicly at odds over the idea.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
The post With Republicans Divided, Indiana Senate Set to Vote on Redistricting appeared first on New York Times.
