The Indiana House of Representatives met on Monday, December 1st to redraw the congressional maps of Indiana. On Friday, December 5th, they passed the maps 57-41, sending them to the Indiana Senate. Both of Indiana’s state houses and its eleven federal congressional seats already have a Republican majority, but this proposed bill would lead to all of the federal seats being handed to the GOP. Previously, the state Senate refused to convene and vote on the maps; however, after recent pressure from President Donald Trump and Governor Mike Braun to redraw Indiana’s districts so that all 9 seats are Republican (instead of the current 7-2), they folded and have plans to meet on December 8th.
The state House’s new plan is very clearly gerrymandered (when district maps are redrawn irregularly so that there are party advantages, named after a salamander-shaped district signed by Elbridge Gerry in 1812), with Marion County (population >950k, predominantly Democrat) being split into four different districts. One of these fractions, the proposed District 9, takes a quarter of Marion County and combines it with around half of Southern Indiana. Obviously, the voters in the southern regions of our state do not have the same views nor priorities as the urban ones.
But the issue of voter suppression is not unique to Indiana’s largest county alone. District 1, home to the only other Blue seat, has also been cracked. The northwest border, close to Chicago, has voted Democrat since 1931–making it one of the longest continuously Democratic districts in the nation. This area, which includes Gary, Valparaiso, Michigan City, and East Chicago, has been reconstructed to take out half of its eastern borders and combine with some of Northern Indiana. The voting patterns of these districts are likely to change, as the combined regions have different interests and party affiliations; however, it is a possibility that they could remain left-leaning.
Several state senators have fought against this inexcusable case of partisan gerrymandering. Senator Rodric Bray in particular has received incessant criticism from President Trump and a large coverage from the press. On November 16, 2025, President Donald Trump began to label Indiana Senators Bray and Greg Goode as “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) on his social media platform Truth Social. He also posted that “because of these two politically correct type ‘gentlemen,’ and a few others, they could be depriving Republicans of a Majority in the House,” and told their constituents to vote against them in future primaries.
I met with Democratic Minority Whip Sen. J.D. Ford of District 29 a couple of weeks ago, who jokingly nicknamed his President Pro Tempore colleague “‘No Way!’ Bray” after Sen. Bray stood up against the MAGA pressure, and said that he would be voting against the proposed map. At that time, Sen. Ford said that although the House and Governor were pushing a vote for the maps, the GOP-controlled Senate was extremely averse to it. In a Politico interview, Sen. Bray expressed that Republicans should gain those two seats “the right way”: with investments of money and energy into the campaigns of strong candidates, instead of diluting the Blue vote. The issue of whether or not the new district plan passes is predicted to come down to the votes of just a few Republican senators.
According to NBC, the complaints of the President and his supporters have caused 11 elected Indiana Republicans to become victims of swatting, a political fearmongering tactic that involves falsely calling the police on a “dangerous person” inside of a representative’s house. Senator Michael Bohacek and Jean Liesing have both reported bomb threats, with the former receiving one after condemning the President for calling Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a slur against the intellectually disabled. He announced that he was disappointed by this behavior from President Trump because his own daughter has Down syndrome. Taking a big step against MAGA’s threats of political violence and party compliancy, Bohacek then posted this accompanying statement on his Facebook: “I will be voting NO on redistricting, perhaps [Trump] can use the next 10 months to convince voters that his policies and behavior deserve a congressional majority.”
However, his comments were soon flooded by unhappy voters who called out his unwillingness to take stands on other human rights issues (like abortion and immigration) and ableist Trump remarks in the past. One comment asked, “Does it take a semi personal attack on your family to make you stand up for what’s right?” and received a (admittedly dubious) response from Bohacek, who said: “no this is just the final straw.”
As is happening in Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina, our state’s GOP has been feeling increasing pressure from the White House to redraw their congressional districts. Though Indiana is already heavily gerrymandered to favor Republican candidates, its lawmakers are under intense scrutiny from MAGA to win even more House seats. These new maps effectively override the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote” that was originally established by the 1962 Baker v. Carr case and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This extreme gerrymandering is no longer an issue of Republican vs. Democrat, but of equal voting practices for all. We won’t know until December 8th what the Indiana Senate decides, but it is worth following this story to see if Indiana’s votes are suppressed even further.
