Indiana Republicans advance Trump-backed congressional map, fate in Senate unclear

By Joseph Ax

Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled Indiana House of Representatives on Friday approved a new congressional map targeting the state’s two incumbent Democrats, setting up a showdown next week in the state Senate, where the mid-decade redistricting faces ​more opposition.

Friday's vote was 57 to 41 in favor, mostly along party lines. Still, 12 Republicans, including four in leadership positions, ‌joined Democrats in voting against the bill.

For months, Indiana's state Senate has resisted intense pressure from President Donald Trump to redraw the state’s congressional lines to favor Republicans.

Trump is ‌waging a national campaign to protect the party’s narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections by urging Republican-controlled states to draw new maps.

Republicans control seven of Indiana’s nine congressional seats, but the new map would likely give them a 9-0 advantage. Democrats need to flip only three seats nationwide in 2026 to take control of the U.S. House, which would allow them to block much of Trump’s legislative ⁠agenda and pursue investigations into his administration.

On Friday, ‌Democratic lawmakers decried the new Indiana map as a power grab that would harm Black and Latino voters in particular by splitting the county that includes Indianapolis, the state's capital and most populous city, into four separate ‍districts. Democratic U.S. Representative Andre Carson, the state's only Black congress member, currently represents the area.

"This map tears apart communities whose cohesion is essential," Democrat Blake Johnson said. "It weakens the voice of Black and brown Hoosiers who already struggle to be heard. It tells moderates, independents and anyone outside the ruling party that ​their vote is ornamental, not consequential."

Mitch Gore, a Democrat from the Indianapolis area, said the street corners at one intersection in the ‌city stand in three different districts under the new map.

"That's not representation; that's cracking a community on purpose," he said. "You claim you did it for political performance, but take a quick drive to 38th and Emerson, then come back and try to tell me with a straight face that the impact of these maps isn't racist."

The bill's lead sponsor, Republican Ben Smaltz, acknowledged the map was drawn for partisan advantage but denied that race was a factor.

"Nothing in the law prevents a legislature from revisiting maps when circumstances demand it," he said on the House ⁠floor.

The Republican leader of the Senate, Rodric Bray, had initially refused to convene ​his chamber this month to take up redistricting, citing a lack of support. Under ​pressure from the White House and Republican Governor Mike Braun, Bray reversed course and agreed to bring the matter to a vote next week.

It remained unclear whether enough senators will vote to approve the map. Trump has threatened ‍to support challengers to any Republican senator ⁠who opposes redistricting. Some senators have reported receiving threats of violence in recent weeks.

Typically, redistricting occurs only once a decade after the U.S. Census. But Trump set off a national mid-decade redistricting fight when he successfully urged Texas Republicans to draw a ⁠new map aimed at flipping five Democratic seats in that state.

Since then, other Republican states including North Carolina and Missouri have heeded his call to draw new lines, while ‌Democratic states such as California and Virginia have responded by launching their own efforts to make it easier for ‌Democrats to win more districts.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Paul Thomasch)