The Indiana House of Representatives is still prepared to meet to redraw Indiana’s congressional map in December, House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, said Nov. 18 — even though the Senate doesn’t have the votes.
While the House voted with the Senate to reconvene in January, Huston is asking members to keep the first two weeks of December open in the hopes that senators will change their minds. It’s a clear sign that the national redistricting fight is far from over in Indiana.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Braun released a statement saying he was exploring options to force the Senate to meet.
“Unfortunately, Sen. Rod Bray was forced to partner with DEMOCRATS to block an effort by the growing number of America First Senators who wanted to have a vote on passing fair maps,” Braun said in a statement released Nov. 18. “Now I am left with no choice other than to explore all options at my disposal to compel the State Senate to show up and vote.”
Both the House and Senate were at the Statehouse for Organization Day, the ceremonial start to the 2026 legislative session.
The decision only adds to the pressure for Senate Republicans, whose leader has been publicly scorned by President Donald Trump for announcing the chamber would not reconvene for redistricting in December.
Huston would prefer Congress prohibit mid-decade redistricting entirely, he told reporters Nov. 18, but said Indiana is not in a “vacuum” and must ensure Republicans are given a fair chance in the midterms.
The House has the votes to redistrict, Huston said. That means the fate of Indiana’s congressional map lies in the hands of the Senate holdouts. Whether the added pressure is enough to convince them remains to be seen.
“My crystal ball is broken,” Huston said.
In the Senate, there was no such promise to keep the weeks of December open.
Senators took an unusual roll-call vote on the resolution to reconvene on Jan. 5 — a chance for lawmakers to make clear, by proxy, their stance on whether they should come in sooner, such as originally planned in December, to consider redistricting. Twenty-nine voted in favor of reconvening Jan. 5 and 19 voted against it.
That means the Republicans present on Organization Day, the ceremonial start to session, were evenly split on whether to come back to vote on redistricting.
Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, said he thinks that vote is indicative of what the Senate would have seen had they voted in December on redistricting.
“A number of members of our caucus — I’m included in that number — don’t feel like it’s the right way to move forward, simply because it’s not the right way to get that goal achieved,” Bray told reporters afterward, referring to the goal of electing more Republicans to Congress.
He said he’d rather do it the traditional way: Finding good candidates and turning out the vote, especially in the 1st Congressional District, which has already been trending conservative.
Meanwhile, mid-decade redistricting just received a major blow in Texas, which passed a new map earlier this year designed to flip five districts red. A federal court struck down the new map Nov. 18, telling the state to revert to its previous district lines.
Contact Marissa Meador at mmeador@gannett.com or find her on X at @marissa_meador.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana House keeps mid-decade redistricting alive as Braun threatens to ‘compel’ Senate to meet
Reporting by Marissa Meador and Kayla Dwyer, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
