Indiana’s Republican governor on Monday said he would be calling a special session to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map, following in the footsteps of other GOP states — although the state Senate president cautioned that “the votes still aren’t there.”
Gov. Mike Braun posted on X that he will be “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.” He said the special session will work to conform “Indiana’s tax code with new federal tax provisions.”
The session is set to start on Nov. 3 and by law it can only run for 30 session days, or 40 calendar days. Indiana currently has seven Republicans and two Democrats in Congress, and the Republicans are hoping to change the district lines to edge out the two Democrats.
Filing for the 2026 midterm elections begins on Jan. 7 and closes on Feb. 6, with the primaries scheduled for May 5 — which would give candidates only a few months to campaign under new district lines.
Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers, but Indiana Senate President Rodric Bray’s office said in a statement Monday morning that “the votes still aren’t there for redistricting.”
Senate Democratic Leader Shelli Yoder said in a statement that Democrats will fight the “illegitimate session with every tool, every vote and every ounce of moral clarity we have.”
President Trump won Indiana by 19 points, but there has been hesitation from Republican lawmakers on redrawing the state’s congressional lines, which were set in 2021. Republican leaders have met with Mr. Trump at the White House, and Vice President JD Vance has visited Indiana at least twice and also met with Republican lawmakers in D.C.
Republicans have been seeking to redistrict in red states nationwide as Mr. Trump has tried to solidify the GOP majority in the House. Over the summer, Mr. Trump called on Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional maps to give the party up to five seats. That push garnered national attention, especially when Democrats in the state legislature fled the state to deny Republicans a quorum, dragging the issue into a second session until it eventually succeeded.
In response, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, pushed an effort to redraw his state’s congressional districts to garner up to five seats for Democrats. A new map was passed by the Democratic-controlled Assembly, and it now will go before voters on Nov. 4 as a ballot measure known as Proposition 50. A CBS News poll conducted between Oct. 16 and 21 found that 62% of California voters plan to support it.
Other Republican-led states have taken on redistricting efforts, even though the net outcome would just be one seat in each state. Missouri lawmakers approved a new map in September to edge out longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in Kansas City, and North Carolina followed earlier this month with the General Assembly passing a map intended to force out Rep. Don Davis.
Democrats have filed lawsuits against many of these efforts.
