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Indiana House Republicans Have Largest Supermajority Since 2016

Indiana House Republicans have their largest supermajority since 2016.
Indiana House Republicans have their largest supermajority since 2016.

Indiana House Republicans expanded their supermajority in the 2020 election, going from 67 seats to 71. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the caucus will change how it governs.

House Republicans’ 71-seat supermajority is their largest since before the 2016 election. And Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics director Andrew Downs said growing that majority by four seats this past election gives the GOP a little more flexibility.

“At 67, they had to worry about losing one or two members and being out of the supermajority," Downs said. "You add a couple more in and you can be, you know, a little less cautious, so to speak.”

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Still, Downs said given the Republicans’ domination in the Statehouse for years, don’t expect things to change much now.

“I don’t think that it really will change the content of what happens," Downs said. "I don’t think it will push legislation much further to the right, if it does at all.”

Republicans have held a supermajority in the House since 2012.

Contact reporter Brandon at  bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon J. Smith has previously worked as a reporter and anchor for KBIA Radio in Columbia, MO. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, IL as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.