By GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Indiana lawmakers on Tuesday likely killed any chance of a redistricting session by adjourning until early next year.
Tuesday was Organization Day, the ceremonial start of the 2026 legislative session.
After Gov. Mike Braun had earlier called a special session on redistricting the congressional maps, legislative leaders had said they would plan on meeting during the first two weeks of December. Then, on Friday, Senate President pro tempore Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, announced the Senate did not have the votes to support redrawing the maps mid-decade and would instead begin its work on Jan. 5.
Bray and his House counterpart, Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, effectively made that decision final on Tuesday by adjourning their respective chambers until that date.
Bray told reporters afterward that many members of his caucus, including him, felt redrawing maps was not the proper way to try to flip Indiana’s two Democratic-held congressional seats. Bray noted the 1st District, held by Democrat Frank Mrvan, has been drifting toward Republicans over the past few elections. The Cook Political Report rates the seat D+1, shaving two points off its 2023 margin of D+3.
In addition, Bray said, there’s no guarantee Republicans could find viable candidates in time to run in the redrawn districts.
“It’s November right now. We don’t know what those districts are. There’s no preeminent candidate in either of those seats that’s a person that’s going to run for that seat that we know will have strong support, potentially, when there will be a primary race, assuredly, if we did that,” he said. “Whoever would come out of it hasn’t had Day One to go into a parade or festival and hasn’t had Day One yet to raise the dollar of money for that campaign. So we feel like we would not necessarily get to a 9-0 ratio.”
The adjournment drew fierce criticism from Braun, who threatened to look for ways to compel the Senate to meet and vote as he directed.
“I am glad to see Speaker Huston and House Republicans publicly endorse the need for fair maps. We look forward to them returning in December to vote to advance them. Momentum is building and it’s time now for our state senators to commit to showing up for work.
“Unfortunately, Sen. Rod Bray was forced to partner with DEMOCRATS to block an effort by the growing number of America First Senators who wanted to have a vote on passing fair maps. Now I am left with no choice other than to explore all options at my disposal to compel the State Senate to show up and vote.
“I will support President Trump’s efforts to recruit, endorse, and finance primary challengers for Indiana’s senators who refuse to support fair maps.”
Shortly before the two chambers gaveled in, Braun told reporters the fight over new maps isn’t over and lawmakers can expect more pressure in the days ahead.
The move also drew a public rebuke from Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, who took to the Senate floor to call the decision not to meet “a slap in the face” to Braun. He said lawmakers should have at least met in a special session as directed and then immediately adjourned. Young supports redrawing the congressional map and said Senate Republicans were split with about 20 members in favor of new maps and another 20 against. If Young’s claim is correct, this would mean a floor vote of 30-20 against new maps when the Senate 10 Democrats, all certain “no” votes, are added.
“I don’t want to cry on Wednesday morning following [Election Day 2026] knowing that we could have done something and we didn’t,” he said, “and knowing that everything we did so far that was good has been stopped.”
For his part, Huston, who supports mid-decade redistricting, told House members to keep their December calendars open in case something changes. When asked if redistricting was dead, he replied, “No.”
House and Senate Democrats said they were glad to see the redistricting issue appears to have gone away. They said they want to refocus on issues such as the costs of child care and utilities.
“We’re happy to see this common-sense approach that Democrats have been advocating for many, many weeks now,” House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said. “And now that we’ve seen the coming back date of Jan. 5, we can turn our attention to working on legislation that’s going to help reduce costs on all levels, utilities, health care, all kinds of issues we’re going to be working on.”
Bray said Senate lawyers have told him the chamber has the authority to set its own schedule despite the governor’s special session order. He would not outright call redistricting a dead issue but said it would be very difficult to put together new maps in time for midterms if the legislature sticks to its Jan. 5 timetable. Candidate filing runs from Jan. 7 to Feb. 6.
Bray also forcefully condemned the swatting incident that targeted Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, on Sunday. Goode held a town hall on redistricting on Nov. 1 but has still not made his position public.
“It’s abhorrent that he and, in particular, his wife and son, would have to go through that experience,” he said. “I have no defense of that whatsoever and we in our society need to make sure that the dialogue we have is civil even when there’s disagreement. Civility and substance is what we need to be doing in our political universe. There’s just no place for that.”
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/politics/indiana-legislature-bucks-governor-adjourns-until-jan-5-2026.
