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Dec 9, 2025
Redistricting in Indiana faces ultimate test in state Senate
The Delaware County Daily Times
A proposal to redraw Indiana's congressional boundaries faces its first public test in the state Senate on Monday, with no clarity on whether it can pass a final vote later in the week despite months of pressure from President Donald Trump.
Senators will take action on a bill designed to favor GOP candidates in the upcoming midterm elections. However, many Republicans, who control the chamber, have been hesitant or even outright opposed to the idea of mid-decade redistricting. Several have also been threatened over their opposition or unwillingness to immediately declare support.
Their deciding votes could test Trump's typically iron grip on the Republican Party. Monday's expected committee hearing could give a first glimpse at how many senators plan to go on record against the bid to consolidate power in the staunchly conservative state.
The map introduced just last Monday and passed by the Republican super majority in the state House on Friday splits the city of Indianapolis into four districts, distributed across other Republican-leaning areas. It also groups the cities of East Chicago and Gary with a wide swath of rural counties in northern Indiana.
The contours would eliminate the districts of the state's two Democratic congressional representatives: longtime Rep. André Carson, representing Indianapolis, and Rep. Frank Mrvan, representing northwest Indiana near Chicago. Carson is the state's only Black member of Congress.
Republicans currently hold seven of the state's nine districts.
Democrats are hoping to flip control of the U.S. House in the 2026 elections and like their odds, since midterms tend to favor the party opposite the one in power.
Redistricting is typically done once a decade following the census. But Trump has pushed Republican-led states to squeeze out more districts winnable for Republicans as a result. Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina have followed suit, while Democrats in California and Virginia have moved to draw their own fa
