Indiana Republican leaders said Tuesday that the state legislature would reconvene in December to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map, a reversal amid pressure from President Donald Trump.
State House Speaker Todd Huston (R) said the chamber’s Republicans will gavel in on Dec. 1 to consider “all legislative business,” including “redrawing the state’s congressional map.”
Shortly after his announcement, state Senate president pro tempore Rodric Bray (R) said the Senate will reconvene on Dec. 8 to “make a final decision … on any redistricting proposal sent from the House.” The decision marked a sharp a turnaround from earlier this month, when Bray said there were not enough votes to move forward with redrawing the map, “and the Senate will not reconvene in December.”
While it was not clear Tuesday whether the Trump-backed push would have the support to succeed, the change in plans was the latest turn in a nationwide fight between Republicans and Democrats to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections. A Trump-backed effort to add seats favoring the GOP in Texas set off the scramble, which has involved court fights, a statewide ballot measure and intense partisan showdowns in many states.
Indiana has proved a more challenging target for Trump than some other Republican-led states, with GOP leaders there showing public resistance this year. For months, Trump and other administration officials have pressured lawmakers in the state to produce a new map — a process normally undertaken every 10 years — even hosting Hoosiers at the White House and dispatching Vice President JD Vance to the state to rally support.
Trump celebrated the news Tuesday and continued to threaten to primary Republicans in the state who do not get on board with his plan.
“I am glad to hear the Indiana House is stepping up to do the right thing, and I hope the Senate finds the Votes,” Trump wrote on social media. “If they do, I will make sure that all of those people supporting me win their Primaries, and go on to Greatness but, if they don’t, I will partner with the incredibly powerful MAGA Grassroots Republicans to elect STRONG Republicans who are ready to do what is needed.”
The battle in Indiana is a test of Trump’s ability to push members of his party to fall in line. Bray, who said that he and other members of the caucus were not on board with the plan and instead favored focusing GOP efforts on winning the existing 1st Congressional District, told Politico that Trump had expressed his disappointment in a recent call and that “the last one was more pointed.”
Lawmakers in the state on both sides of the issue have said they have faced swatting incidents, intimidation tactics and bomb threats.
“Enough is enough. These threats to lawmakers, including those received by me and my family in recent days, need to stop,” Gov. Mike Braun (R) said on social media last week, speaking generally of threatening actions. He added, “Indiana State Police and their law-enforcement partners have been working around the clock all week to protect lawmakers and investigate threats.”
Trump has frequently used his Truth Social website to criticize Republicans not on board with his plans. “Very disappointed in Indiana State Senate Republicans,” he wrote in a post earlier this month, using an acronym to describe Bray as a Republican-in-name-only.
Bray said Tuesday that “the issue of redrawing Indiana’s congressional maps mid-cycle has received a lot of attention and is causing strife here in our state.”
Republicans hold a supermajority in the Indiana state Senate, but had signaled repeatedly that they did not have the votes for a redrawing of the map. The GOP currently holds seven of the state’s nine congressional seats, and a new map would aim to increase that number or even give the party a clean sweep.
Elsewhere across the country, Republicans have drawn new maps in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio that could give them as many as nine more seats. The map in Texas, approved by the state legislature and governor, is under a legal dispute. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. temporarily cleared the way Friday for the map to take effect, though both parties are awaiting a final ruling on the matter.
In response to the GOP redistricting push, Democrats overwhelmingly approved a new map in California that could give them up to five more seats and kicked off a months-long process to redistrict in Virginia.
Kadia Goba contributed to this report.
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