Indiana's Republican-led House of Representatives on Friday passed a new congressional redistricting map that, if approved by the Senate, could give the GOP two more seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
The proposal follows calls by President Donald Trump for Republican-led states to adopt midcycle redistricting strategies aimed at expanding the GOP's slim majority in the House.
Midterm elections typically favor the party out of power, and Trump is seeking to block efforts by Democrats to retake the chamber.
The map's fate in the Senate remains uncertain. Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, has repeatedly said there are not enough votes to approve a new map, even though Republicans hold 40 of the chamber's 50 seats.
Under pressure from Trump and Gov. Mike Braun, however, Bray announced shortly before Thanksgiving that senators would return to the Statehouse to "make a final decision on any redistricting proposal sent from the House," according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. The Senate is scheduled to take up the proposed maps when it reconvenes Monday.
The House approved the plan 57-41, with seven Democrats joining the majority and 11 Republicans voting against it.
The new map could give Republicans all nine of Indiana's congressional seats by reconfiguring districts held by Democrats Andre Carson in Indianapolis and Frank Mrvan in the northwest corner of the state near Chicago, according to the Chronicle.
The vote came a day after the Supreme Court granted Texas' emergency request to block a three-judge federal district court ruling that barred its redrawn congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
Also on Thursday, the Florida Legislature began deliberations on revising its congressional map.
Indiana state Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, author of the plan, maintains that the new districts were drawn "purely for political performance" of GOP candidates. The map was prepared by the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the same group that assisted Texas, according to NBC News.
Trump's call for middecade map drawing prompted Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Utah to approve new congressional maps. Collectively, the changes across those states could add as many as nine Republican seats.
Democrat-led states have moved to counter the GOP's redistricting push. California voters approved a constitutional amendment that suspends the state's independent redistricting commission for this cycle and replaces it with a map projected to make about five seats safely or strongly Democrat-held.
In Virginia and Maryland, Democrat leaders are examining ways to override or influence commissions and are weighing new maps that could net their party several seats.
Those efforts remain in preliminary stages and face internal pushback as well as likely court challenges.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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