{"id":336574,"date":"2025-10-27T18:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/336574\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T18:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:14:13","slug":"indiana-gov-mike-braun-calls-a-special-session-to-redistrict-house-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/336574\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Gov. Mike Braun calls a special session to redistrict House seats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Republican governor of Indiana said Monday he\u2019s scheduling a special session to redraw congressional boundaries<\/a> after weeks of pressure to back President Donald Trump\u2019s bid to add more winnable seats with midcycle redistricting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump has pressed Republicans<\/a> to draw new maps that give the party an easier path to maintain control<\/a> of the House in the midterms. While Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina<\/a> have moved quickly to enact new districts, Indiana lawmakers have been hesitant.<\/p>\n

Republican Gov. Mike Braun called for the General Assembly to convene Nov. 3 for the special session. It\u2019s unclear whether enough of the GOP majority Senate will back new maps. <\/p>\n

The White House held multiple meetings with Indiana lawmakers who have held out for months. The legislative leaders kept their cards close as speculation swirled over whether the state known for its more measured approach to Republican politics would answer the redistricting call. <\/p>\n

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National pressure campaign<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance first met with Braun and legislative leaders<\/a> in Indianapolis in August and Trump met privately<\/a> with state House Speaker Todd Huston and state Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray in the Oval Office weeks later. Vance also spoke to state lawmakers visiting Washington that day. <\/p>\n

Vance returned to Indianapolis<\/a> on Oct. 10 to meet with the governor, as well as the Republican state House and Senate members.<\/p>\n

Braun is a staunch ally of Trump in a state the president won by 19 percentage points in 2024. But Indiana lawmakers have avoided the national spotlight in recent years \u2014 especially after a 2022 special session that yielded a strict abortion ban<\/a>. Braun previously said he did not want to call a special session until he was sure lawmakers would back a new map. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am calling a special legislative session to protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair,\u201d Braun said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n

Typically, states redraw boundaries of congressional districts every 10 years after the census has concluded. Opponents are expected to challenge any new maps in court<\/a>. <\/p>\n

State lawmakers have the sole power to draw maps in Indiana, where Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers. Democrats could not stop a special session by refusing to attend<\/a>, as their peers in Texas briefly did. <\/p>\n

Opposition to redrawing the maps midcycle<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Bray said last week that the Indiana Senate lacked the votes to pass a new congressional map and she said Monday that the votes are still lacking, casting doubt on whether a special session will achieve Braun\u2019s goals. <\/p>\n

With only 10 Democrats in the 50-member Senate, that means more than a dozen of the 40 Republicans oppose the idea. Some state Republican lawmakers have warned that midcycle redistricting can be costly and could backfire politically. <\/p>\n

Republicans who vote against redistricting could to be forced out of office if their colleagues back primary opponents as punishment for not towing the party line. Braun\u2019s move to call a special session could force lawmakers who haven\u2019t commented publicly to take a stance. <\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s Republican legislative leaders praised existing boundaries after adopting them four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe these maps reflect feedback from the public and will serve Hoosiers well for the next decade,\u201d Bray said at the time. <\/p>\n

Indiana Senate Democratic Leader Shelli Yoder decried the special session and threatened legal action over any maps passed by the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not democracy. This is desperation,\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Redistricting balloons <\/p>\n

Democrats only need to gain three seats to flip control of the U.S. House, and redistricting fights have erupted in multiple states. <\/p>\n

Some Democratic states have moved to counter Republican gains with new legislative maps. The latest, Virginia<\/a>, is expected to take up the issue in a special session starting this week.<\/p>\n

Republicans outnumber Democrats in Indiana\u2019s congressional delegation 7-2, limiting possibilities of squeezing out another seat. But many in the party see it as a chance for the GOP to represent all nine seats.<\/p>\n

The GOP would likely target Indiana\u2019s 1st Congressional District, a longtime Democratic stronghold that encompasses Gary and other cities near Chicago in the state\u2019s northwest corner. The seat held by third-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan has been seen by Republicans as a possible pickup in recent elections. <\/p>\n

Lawmakers in Indiana redrew the borders of the district to be slightly more favorable<\/a> toward Republicans in the 2022 election, but did not entirely split it up<\/a>. The new maps were not challenged in court after they were approved in 2021, not even by Democrats and allies who had opposed the changes boosting GOP standing in the suburbs north of Indianapolis. <\/p>\n

Mrvan still won reelection in 2022<\/a> and easily retained his seat in 2024<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that representation should be earned through ideas and service, not political manipulation,\u201d Mrvan said in a statement Monday. <\/p>\n

Republicans could also zero in on Indiana\u2019s 7th Congressional District, composed entirely of Marion County and the Democratic stronghold of Indianapolis. But that option would be more controversial, potentially slicing up the state\u2019s largest city and diluting Black voters\u2019 influence<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republican governor of Indiana said Monday he\u2019s scheduling a special session to redraw congressional boundaries after weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":336575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[69,90,166496,57,6323,2862,166495,2066,166494,50,80,22204,166497,89,61,322,67,326,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-336574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-elections","11":"tag-frank-mrvan","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-in-state-wire","14":"tag-indiana","15":"tag-indiana-state-government","16":"tag-jd-vance","17":"tag-mike-braun","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-redistricting","21":"tag-rodric-bray","22":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","23":"tag-u-s-news","24":"tag-u-s-republican-party","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-house-of-representatives","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115447494756723231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}