Indiana state Sens. Greg Taylor (left), a Democrat from Indianapolis, and Mike Gaskill (right), a Republican from Pendleton, speak Dec. 11, 2025, in the Indiana Senate chambers about a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts. (WISH photo by Garrett Bergquist)
Posted By: The Reporter December 12, 2025
By GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Indiana voters will not face new congressional districts in 2026 after the state Senate on Thursday afternoon rejected those maps by a vote of 31-19.
The vote brings to a close a five-month political drama in which the administration of President Donald Trump pressured Republican state lawmakers nationwide, and Indiana lawmakers in particular, to redraw U.S. House district maps to more heavily favor their party ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House and the president’s party typically loses control of that chamber in the first midterm election after a new president takes office.
Image provided from Livestream of the Indiana Senate
Republicans already control seven of Indiana’s nine U.S. House seats. The new maps would have given them theoretical control of all nine seats by redrawing the districts held by Democrats Andre Carson and Frank Mrvan to more heavily favor Republican candidates. The Cook Political Report rates Carson and Mrvan’s current districts as D+21 and D+1, respectively.
Thursday’s vote marked the first time Republican state lawmakers have rejected Trump’s demands for more GOP-friendly congressional district maps. Lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina all redrew their maps at Trump’s behest, leading to a retaliatory redistricting effort in Democratic-controlled California. Democrats in Virginia are considering doing the same.
Trump in recent weeks had specifically called out Indiana senators who had balked at the new maps, including Senate President pro tempore Rod Bray, R-Martinsville. Pressure to redistrict also came from Indiana’s entire Republican congressional delegation and all of its statewide elected officials, including Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who serves as president of the Senate but has no role in it except to break a tie.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/politics/indiana-senate-rejects-trump-backed-redrawing-of-congressional-maps.
