Indiana Senate on verge of passing redistricting bill

Republican state senators did not have to cast initial votes related to Indiana’s mid-census redistricting Wednesday as the three Democratic amendments were voted on by voice vote.

House Bill 1032, which addresses mid-census redistricting and gives Republicans an advantage in all nine congressional districts, moves on without Senate amendments for final Senate consideration Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Senate heard the bill on second reading, which means Senators can present amendments to the bill. The amendment authors didn’t call for a roll-call vote — which would’ve recorded how each Senator voted on the amendment — so each amendment was voted on with a voice “aye” or “no” vote.

Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, proposed an amendment that would’ve removed the language in the bill and added language that would prohibit mid-census redistricting of Congressional districts.

“Hoosiers did not send us here to do a mid-decade redistricting of Congressional seats,” Qaddoura said.

Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, the Senate sponsor of the bill, urged the Senate to vote against the amendment because it is a “strip and insert” amendment.

Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, proposed an amendment that would’ve required each county clerk to send the state comptroller an itemized report of the cost of implementing new Congressional maps for reimbursement, which Gaskill urged the Senate to vote against because it creates an appropriation “which you all know would procedurally kill the bill.”

Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, proposed an amendment that would remove the portions prohibiting county-level judges from issuing orders preventing the proposed maps from going into effect and that any legal challenges immediately go to the Indiana Supreme Court. The amendment also would remove language about splitting precinct boundaries. Gaskill urged the Senate to vote against the amendment because the section related to restraining orders and the Indiana Supreme Court ensure any lawsuits are “expeditiously” heard by the Indiana Supreme Court.

During the redistricting process, precinct lines get skewed, Gaskill said. But, precincts can be redrawn after redistricting is completed, he said.

All three amendments failed in voice votes. Senate Republican and Democratic leadership spokeswomen did not immediately respond to questions about why the amendments were voted on via voice vote.

Before the bill was heard on second reading, Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, shared his support for redistricting because, speaking about Democrats, “what they get to do, we should get to do.”

“We did a good job. We did a very good job, and they’re fair,” Young said about the proposed maps.

The bill advanced out of the Senate Elections Committee Monday evening in a 6-3 vote, with one Republican voting against the bill.

Committee member Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, tearfully expressed his opposition to the bill because he said he wouldn’t be intimidated by the swatting call he received after it was reported that the Senate doesn’t have the votes to pass the bill.

“I will not normalize that kind of behavior,” Walker said. “I fear for this institution. I fear for the state of Indiana, and I fear for all states, if we allow intimidation and threats to become the norm.”

Committee chair Gaskill said Monday he supports the bill because while “political gerrymandering is uncomfortable,” Indiana should act because Democratic states have been redistricting to their advantage.

“This is a very small part that we can play in rebalancing the scales on a national basis,” Gaskill said.

Republican Senators Stacey Donato, Linda Rogers and Greg Goode all said in committee they voted in favor of the bill, so that it can be discussed by the full Senate.

“I take the importance of listening very seriously and will continue to listen with an open mind,” Goode, R-Terre Haute, said in a statement after the vote.

Donato, R-Logansport, and Rogers, R-Granger, said they may change their votes when the Senate takes up the measure.

The Senate has been a hurdle to Indiana’s mid-census redistricting efforts after Senate leadership stated in October that the chamber doesn’t have the votes to pass new maps.

Gov. Mike Braun called for a special session to address redistricting after months of overtures by Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance. The Trump administration has asked Republican-led states to undertake mid-census redistricting to maintain the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In response to Trump’s request, Texas conducted mid-census redistricting to give Republicans five more seats, to which California responded with voter-approved redistricting to create five more Democratic-leaning seats.

Ahead of Organization Day, Nov. 18, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, said the Senate didn’t have the votes to pass new maps and canceled the Senate’s December session.

In response to Bray’s announcement, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, calling out Bray and Goode “for not wanting to redistrict their state, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats.”

Hours after Trump posted his comment, Goode received a false swatting call. After Organization Day, when the Senate voted to reconvene in January, at least nine more state senators — Dan Dernulc, Spencer Deery, Rick Niemeyer, Kyle Walker, Greg Walker, Linda Rogers, Andy Zay, Ron Alting, Mike Bohacek — received swatting calls and threats.

The threats moved Bray to call the Senate into session on Dec. 8, following the Dec. 1 start of the House session.

House Bill 1032, authored by State Rep. Ben Smaltz, would allow the legislature to amend congressional districts “at a time other than the first regular session of the general assembly convening immediately following the United States decennial census.”

The bill states that the current Congressional Districts won’t expire before Nov. 3, 2026.

During a House committee hearing last week, Smaltz, R-Auburn, said Indiana is taking up mid-census redistricting because of that action across the country. The map was drawn by the National Republican Redistricting Trust using data from the last three presidential elections and the last two Indiana U.S. Senator, Secretary of State and attorney general elections, Smaltz said.

“These maps were drawn for political purposes and advantage,” Smaltz said.

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