Indiana House Republicans pass Trump-backed map, setting up high-stakes Senate fight

Indiana state House Republicans passed a new state congressional map Friday at the behest of President Donald Trump, advancing the legislation to the state Senate, where it is unclear if enough lawmakers will support its final passage.

Lawmakers in the Republican-majority House voted 57-41 in favor of the map, which splits the city of Indianapolis into four districts to help the GOP potentially win all nine Indiana congressional seats. While Trump and many other Republicans are celebrating the passage, the map faces its true test in the Senate, where many GOP lawmakers have opposed mid-decade redistricting.

Democrats in the House minority decried the new map, with many criticizing the swift timeline of the past week. The map was introduced on Monday. By contrast, when the current congressional district map was passed in 2021, lawmakers held multiple public hearings around the state over several months beforehand.

Democratic state Rep. Greg Porter, who represents Indianapolis, railed against the proposal on the House floor, saying it would dilute the power of Black Hoosiers. U.S. Rep. André Carson, who has represented Indianapolis for the past 17 years and stands to lose his seat, is the state's only Black member of Congress.

''What we're doing today with this proposed legislation is taking away the rights of Black and brown people in Indiana,'' Porter said. ''It cracks Marion County!''

State under pressure from White House

While redistricting is typically done at the beginning of a new decade with the census, Trump has pushed Republican-led states to redistrict this year to give the GOP an easier path to maintaining its majority in the U.S. House. Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats next November to overcome the GOP's current margin, and midterm elections typically favor the party opposite the one in power.

Republicans currently hold seven of Indiana's nine U.S. House seats.

The author of Indiana's legislation, Republican state Rep. Ben Smaltz, said on the floor Wednesday that the map and bill language were provided by the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the GOP's primary redistricting entity that was also involved in drawing Texas' new map this year. Smaltz said the trust gave Indiana Republicans one option for the statewide map.

Smaltz said Friday the tit-for-tat mid-decade redistricting between Democratic and Republican states may continue for the next several cycles and ''may be the new normal.''

Republican Todd Huston, Indiana's House speaker, took to the floor Friday to defend the redistricting proposal in light of the partisan power balance across the country, saying ''we don't operate in a vacuum.''

The Indiana House vote ups the pressure on Senate Republicans to approve the new map for final passage.

''I urge the Senate to move quickly next week and adopt this map so Indiana can move forward with confidence,'' he said.

Trump pushed senators to pass the proposal ''AS IS,'' in a social media post Friday evening. He also named nine individual senators he described as needing ''encouragement to make the right decision.''

''Let your voice be heard loud and clear in support of these Senators doing the right thing,'' Trump wrote.

Map advances to state Senate

The immediate next hurdle for the new map will come in a Senate committee, which is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon.

The issue has sharply divided Republicans in the Hoosier state. Senators on both sides of the issue have been subject to threats and swatting attempts in recent weeks.

Trump has also said he will back primary opponents against any GOP senator who opposes redistricting. But half the chamber, including Bray, is not up for reelection until 2028.

The map approved by House Republicans splits the Democratic city of Indianapolis — which currently makes up the entirety of the 7th Congressional District — into four quadrants divided among four rural districts. The new map also groups the cities of East Chicago and Gary with several Republican counties in northern Indiana, potentially ousting Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, who represents the current district in the state's northwest corner near Chicago.