Indiana Republicans approve Trump-backed map, prepare for state Senate fight

Republicans in the Indiana state House of Representatives on Friday approved a new state congressional map at the behest of President Donald Trump, advancing the legislation to the state Senate, where it is unclear whether enough lawmakers will support its final passage.

Republican lawmakers voted 57-41 in favor of the map, which divides the city of Indianapolis into four districts to help the GOP potentially win all nine of Indiana’s congressional seats. While Trump and many other Republicans celebrate the passage, the map faces its real test in the state Senate, where many Republican lawmakers have opposed redistricting in the middle of the decade.

House minority Democrats condemned the new map, with many criticizing last week’s rapid timeline. The map was presented on Monday. In 2021, when the current congressional district map was approved, state lawmakers held multiple public hearings across the state over several months.

Democratic state Rep. Greg Porter, who represents Indianapolis, criticized the proposal in the House of Representatives, saying it would dilute the power of black Hoosiers. U.S. Rep. André Carson, who has represented Indianapolis for the past 17 years and is at risk of losing his seat, is the state’s only Black member of Congress.

“What we are doing today with this proposed legislation is taking away the rights of black and brown people in Indiana,” Porter said. “This breaks Marion County!”

The Republican author of the redistricting legislation, state Rep. Ben Smaltz, said on the floor Wednesday that the map and text of the bill were provided by the National Republican Redistricting Fund, the GOP’s main redistricting entity that also participated in designing the new Texas map this year. Smaltz said the Trust gave Indiana Republicans an option for the state map.

Republicans currently hold seven of the nine seats in the Indiana House of Representatives. Indiana lawmakers have been under increasing pressure from the White House to follow the lead of Republicans in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina, who approved new maps in recent months ahead of next year’s midterm elections. To offset the GOP’s gains, Democrats in California and Virginia have taken steps to do the same.

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Smaltz said Friday that mid-decade redistricting between Democratic and Republican states may continue for the next few cycles and “may be the new normal.”

The Indiana House vote increases pressure on Senate Republicans to approve the new map for final approval.

While redistricting is typically done at the start of a new decade with the census, Trump has pressured Republican-led states to redistrict this year to give the GOP an easier path to maintaining its majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats next November to overcome the GOP’s current margin, and midterm elections typically favor the party opposite the one in power.

Earlier, the state Senate’s top Republican, Rodric Bray, said there were not enough votes to support redistricting. In the 50-member Senate, Republicans need at least 25 votes to pass the legislation. The 26th tie-breaking vote could come from Republican Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith.

The next hurdle for the new map will come in a Senate committee, where it could face a smaller number of opposing senators.

The issue has deeply divided Republicans in the Hoosier State. Senators on both sides of the issue have been the subject of threats and swatting attempts in recent weeks.

Trump has said he will back his primary opponents against any Republican senator who opposes redistricting. But half of the chamber, including Bray, will not run for re-election until 2028.

The map approved by House Republicans divides the Democratic city of Indianapolis, which currently makes up the entire Seventh Congressional District, into four quadrants divided between four rural districts. The new map also lumps the cities of East Chicago and Gary with several Republican counties in northern Indiana, which could unseat Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan, who represents the current district in the northwest corner of the state near Chicago.

In the escalating battle over redistricting, the U.S. Supreme Court handed Texas Republicans a victory Thursday by allowing the state to hold next year’s election under the new congressional map that favors the GOP and could give the party five more seats.