Indiana Governor Calls Special Session For Redistricting
The Republican Party is desperately afraid of losing control of the House in the 2026 midterms. That fear had led them to spend the last several months launching redistricting efforts to gerrymander congressional maps to their advantage. While it looked like an Indiana redistricting effort didn’t have the votes to get off the ground, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has called a special legislative session focused on redrawing the state’s congressional maps.
According to AP, Indiana’s General Assembly will reconvene on Nov. 3 to begin the special session. “I am 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,” Braun said in a statement Monday.
Indiana’s congressional maps are controlled exclusively by the state legislature, where the GOP controls both chambers in a supermajority. With only Democrats representing 10 of the state Senate’s 50 seats, they’re unable to stall the passage of a new map by breaking quorum or filibustering the way Texas Democrats did in August.
While Gov. Braun has previously said he didn’t want to announce a redistricting effort unless he knew the votes were there, there is still uncertainty about whether the redistricting effort will be a success.
The Trump administration has been pressuring Indiana to begin a redistricting campaign since the summer. The GOP narrowly controls the House, with Democrats only needing a net gain of three seats to flip control during next year’s midterms. While Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina quickly began redistricting efforts that resulted in the passage of new congressional maps, Indiana has been slow-moving in the redistricting process. This is largely because the Republican state legislature isn’t entirely on board with the process. Only last week did State Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray say that they didn’t have the votes to pass through a new map.
There’s speculation that Braun called the special legislative session to put public pressure on state congress members who are against the effort. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have repeatedly met with Republican officials in Indiana over the last several months. While several Indiana Republicans have privately expressed concern that a new map could wind up hurting them, the fear of being publicly rebuked by President Trump or having their colleagues support primary challengers more willing to bend to the President’s demands could pressure them into voting in favor of the new maps.
Indiana already drew new maps in 2021, with the state’s Republican leaders publicly praising them. “I believe these maps reflect feedback from the public and will serve Hoosiers well for the next decade,” Bray said at the time.
Redistricting usually only happens every 10 years in response to updated Census data. Mid-decade efforts are highly unusual and historically only happen due to a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination or a violation of the Voting Rights Act. In fact, such a lawsuit may trigger a mid-decade redistricting effort in the state of New York. The New York Times reports that a lawsuit filed on behalf of four New Yorkers argues that the state’s current congressional maps unconstitutionally dilute the impact of Black and Latino voters. The lawsuit focuses on the 11th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the only Republican Congress member from New York.
The suit argues that the current maps “confine Staten Island’s growing Black and Latino communities in a district where they are routinely and systematically unable to influence elections.”
Texas’ launching of a special session in July to begin a mid-decade redistricting effort has resulted in a nationwide redistricting effort between Red and Blue states ahead of the 2026 midterms. Missouri and North Carolina’s Republican state legislatures have already seen through redistricting efforts that resulted in the GOP potentially gaining an extra House seat in both states, while Florida has formed a commission to design a new congressional map.
Next week, California voters will go to the polls to decide whether control of the state’s congressional maps will remain with an independent redistricting committee or temporarily transfer to the state legislature for the next five years. Should voters approve the transfer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom intends to implement a map that neutralizes the five seats Texas gained in its redistricting effort.
Last week, Virginia’s majority Democratic state legislature announced a surprise redistricting effort intended to gain two to three House seats. Should the efforts of Virginia and California succeed, and the lawsuit in New York results in a new congressional map for the state, the electoral math for GOP control of the House will only get tighter.
SEE ALSO:
Virginia Democrats Launch Surprise Redistricting Effort
Hakeem Jeffries Is Not Wrong About Redistricting
