The majority of Northwest Indiana’s Republican delegation won’t attend next week’s meeting at the White House, where redistricting will likely be discussed, while Indiana’s Congressional House Republican delegation supports the effort to redistrict Indiana.
President Donald Trump and national Republicans have been pressuring red states to change their congressional maps before the 2026 election to increase Republican control of the U.S. House.
Earlier this month, Texas House Democrats left their state to prevent a quorum for a special session to redraw the state’s Congressional map. After nearly two weeks, the Texas Democrats returned to their state, partly because California released its own redrawn map proposal.
California lawmakers voted Thursday to approve legislation calling for a special election in November to approve a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats next year.
More Top Picks Nail Gun
The move came a day after Texas Republicans advanced their own redrawn map to pad their House majority by the same number of seats. Texas lawmakers meet again Friday, when the Republican majority in the Senate could give final approval to their map, sending it to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.
It is unusual for redistricting to take place in the middle of the decade and typically occurs once at the beginning of each decade to coincide with the census.
In Indiana, Vice President JD Vance came to Indianapolis Aug. 7 to talk to Gov. Mike Braun and other Republican state leaders about redistricting. The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs sent an email invitation July 28 – which was before Vance came to Indiana but after the Texas special session started – inviting the state’s entire Republican legislative caucus to the White House.
The email, which the Indiana Capital Chronicle obtained, said the meeting would be “an opportunity for Indiana’s elected officials to hear directly from senior White House officials and cabinet secretaries to learn how to partner with the administration to implement President Trump’s agenda at the state and local level.”
Braun told reporters Monday that he remained noncommittal on whether to call a special session for redistricting, adding that the decision will depend on consensus within the legislature.
“I’m not going to call one unless there is going to be general agreement that we need to,” Braun told reporters, noting a session could cost taxpayers roughly $150,000. A special session in Indiana in 2022 cost about $240,000.
Braun acknowledged the national political pressure but emphasized that Indiana is already solidly Republican.
“Yes, there will be political pressure put on, and it will be cranked up, probably closer you get to the finish line of when they’d like to get it done,” Braun said.
Indiana was last redistricted in 2021, which left Congressional Republicans with seven seats and Democrats two seats. The two Democratic seats are the First District, held by U.S. Rep Frank Mrvan, and the Seventh District, held by U.S. Rep. André Carson.
Purdue Northwest Professor of Political Science Yu Ouyang said a redistricting strategy is to either pack or crack a political party into districts. Packing means putting the majority of a political party into a district or two, Ouyang said, and cracking means splitting up a political party into smaller segments of a majority party district.
While the Republicans have the option to redraw the Democratic majorities in the First and Seventh Congressional districts, Ouyang said it may pose a risk to the nearby Republican districts.
“In what may be now relatively safe districts for Republican representatives, they would become more competitive districts instead because now they may have a lot more liberal voters in their district,” Ouyang said.
The immediate outcome of redistricting now could be creating one or two Republican seats for Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 election, Ouyang said. In the long term, redistricting now could create more competitive districts in future elections, he said.
“There’s a heavy trade-off here,” Ouyang said.
Northwest Indiana Republican delegation
State Rep. Julie Olthoff said she won’t be attending the White House meeting because she had previously attended a similar meeting when former Vice President Mike Pence invited the Republican state legislators. At that meeting, Olthoff said the group met department heads and talked with them briefly.
Olthoff, R-Crown Point, said the legislators received the invitation before redistricting was discussed in Indiana, and she was surprised that the narrative has “flipped,” that the meeting will be about redistricting.
“I can’t tell you if that’s going to be discussed,” Olthoff said. “I didn’t sign up to go because I’ve done that.”
When it comes to redistricting Indiana, Olthoff said the decision to do so “would require taking a number of things into consideration.” The Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave the state an “A” grade for its congressional maps, she said.
“It’s never a bad thing to add time to a big decision because that’s where you find wisdom,” Olthoff said.
State Rep. Mike Aylesworth said he won’t attend the White House meeting because he has a “full agenda” for that day. When asked this week about his position on redistricting, Aylesworth said he had no comment.
Aylesworth, R-Hebron, previously said the state legislature “did a good job” redistricting in 2021, but he’s waiting to see what the leadership decides about a special session for redistricting.
“I don’t think it’s necessary but we’ll wait and see what the caucus says,” Aylesworth previously said. “I’m hesitant to change things, but we’ll see what leadership says.”
State Rep. Ed Soliday said he won’t attend the White House meeting because he already had other meetings scheduled that day.
When Indiana completed redistricting in 2010 and 2020, Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said the legislature worked hard “to follow the rules” when creating the maps.
To redistrict now, Soliday said the legislature has to look at the facts and the long-term and short-term effects.
State Sen. Rick Niemeyer said he won’t attend the White House meeting because of previous engagements.
“I wish I could go, but no, I can’t,” Niemeyer said.
Niemeyer, R-Lowell, said he is still thinking about where he stands on redistricting Indiana.
“I haven’t said no, I haven’t said yes,” Niemeyer said.
State Sen. Dan Dernulc said he won’t be attending the White House meeting. Dernulc, R-Highland, previously said he needs more facts and the “why” of redistricting Indiana.
“I don’t see a need for it. I don’t want to say yes or no, we’re a work in progress on it,” Dernulc said.
More Top Picks Best Entryway Storage Benches
State. Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, and Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, did not respond to multiple requests for comment, individually and through their spokespeople.
Indiana Republican Congressional delegation
U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, said on his X account that Democrats have “proven they will use every tool” for power while Republicans “have idly stood by.”
“It’s time for us to drop the gloves. At this moment, our state has the opportunity to give conservative Hoosiers the representative in D.C. they deserve. I stand with President Trump, it’s time to redraw Indiana’s congressional map,” Stutzman said.
U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-5th, took to her X account to share a post by Gov. Gavin Newsom about redistricting in California. Above it, she said Indiana will have the chance to respond to Democrats’ gerrymandering, or drawing congressional lines in a party’s favor.
Spartz said Indiana can stand with Trump and the state of Texas, which started the mid-census redistricting effort, “to stand up for our REPUBLIC!”
“Given developments across the country, I fully support mid-cycle redistricting,” Spartz said.
U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin, R-9th, said on her X account that Democrats won’t stop pushing their “radical agenda” and Republicans “can’t accept that any longer.”
“Indiana can act to guarantee that all Hoosiers have the strongest possible conservative voices in Washington. I’m standing with President Trump – it’s time to redraw Indiana’s congressional map,” Houchin said.
U.S. Rep. Jim Baird, R-4th, said on his X account that Hoosiers “are fed up” with their voices being drowned out by gerrymandering in states like Illinois.
“I stand with president Trump on redistricting to bring fairness back to the process and ensure Indiana’s representation truly matches the will of its voters,” Baird said.
The three other Hoosier Republican U.S. representatives also announced their support – U.S. 8th District Rep. Mark Messmer; 2nd District Rep. Rudy Yakym; and 6th District Rep. Jefferson Shreve.
Mrvan, D-Highland, previously said potential redistricting of Indiana’s First District would silence the voices of his constituents.
“The Trump administration has recognized that their harmful policies to benefit wealthy elites at the expense of working families are wildly unpopular,” Mrvan previously said.
The mid-decade plan to redistrict aims to disenfranchise Hoosier voters, Carson previously said.
“Seven out of nine seats in Congress just isn’t enough. Now, they want all nine,” Carson previously said. “It is our turn to call out this power grab. We don’t need a dictatorship nationally, statewide or locally.”
The Associated Press contributed.