Indiana Gov. Mike Braun called a special legislative session on redistricting Monday, a move that could help Republicans gain more seats in the House of Representatives. The session will convene next Monday, Nov. 3.
The special session follows weeks of pressure from the White House to draw more Republican-friendly maps. Indiana Republican leaders met privately with Donald Trump in late August to discuss redistricting and Vice President JD Vance has visited Indianapolis twice, once in August and once in early October. During his October visit, Vance met with Braun and several Republican leaders. Republican Rodric Bray, president pro tempore of the Indiana Senate told reporters that Vance’s meeting with lawmakers included a discussion of the “pros and cons” of redistricting.
Indiana has nine seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Seven are currently held by Republicans. The new maps could break up districts held by Democrats, increasing the number of seats controlled by Republicans to eight or nine.
Some of Indiana’s Republican leaders have expressed hesitation surrounding redistricting. On Monday, a spokesperson for Bray said “the votes still aren’t there for redistricting.”
Here’s how local politicians reacted to the news:
Shelli Yoder
Shelli Yoder, Indiana Senate Democratic Leader and Bloomington representative, decried the special session in a statement Monday on behalf of the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus. She called it a “national disgrace.”
“This is not democracy. This is desperation,” Yoder said in the statement. “Governor Braun’s announcement confirms what we have feared all along. Indiana’s government has been hijacked by national operatives willing to shred every democratic norm to serve one man — Donald Trump.”
Yoder vowed to fight the redistricting and criticized the cost the special session will have on taxpayers. The last special session, called in 2022, cost taxpayers $240,000 in per-diem and travel costs.
Matt Pierce
Democrat Matt Pierce, a state representative for Bloomington, also opposes the redistricting efforts. In an August statement, he called redistricting efforts a “power grab.”
“President Trump and Vice President Vance are so desperate that they are scraping for every seat they can get through gerrymandering,” he said in the statement. “You have to be pretty desperate to decide that having seven of the nine seats in Indiana held by Republicans is not enough.”
Pierce said during a town hall Monday in Bloomington that he does not believe Indiana Senate Republicans truly support redistricting, but they fear retribution from the presidential administration.
"I don’t think they really want to do it," he said. "I think they know it's wrong."
He said that it is possible some Republicans are hesitant to defy Vance's wishes to redistrict the state because they are afraid of losing the White House's support ahead of primary races in November.
State Representatives Bob Heaton, Dave Hall and Peggy Mayfield did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.
This story may be updated.
Reporter Molly Gregory contributed.
