The Indiana General Assembly’s leaders on Wednesday broke their weekslong silence on the push to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries, a day after visiting the White House.
But neither House Speaker Todd Huston nor Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray took a position.
Meanwhile, voting rights advocates delivered two thick stacks of signatures opposing the move to their Statehouse offices.
Indiana isn’t due to redistrict until after the 2030 census. But President Donald Trump is pushing GOP-held states to add red districts and maintain the party’s hold on the U.S. House.
Huston, Bray and several dozen members of their caucuses met with Trump administration officials Tuesday for a pre-scheduled “White House State Leadership Conference” that included talk of new maps.
Bray and Huston met separately with President Trump, officials confirmed.
In a statement, Huston said he “appreciated the opportunity” to hear from Vice President JD Vance and others about the administration’s work.
“It was encouraging to hear how Indiana has been leading the way for many of their initiatives or was the genesis of policy ideas,” Huston said.
“A wide range of topics were discussed including education, energy, immigration, fiscal responsibility and redistricting, and members were able to ask questions and share their thoughts,” he continued. “We look forward to Indiana continuing to have a strong partnership with the Trump Administration.”
Bray also gave no hints as to his thinking.
He described being “grateful” for the opportunity and called the event “extremely productive.” Indiana was recognized for “leading the nation” on so-called school choice, election security and Medicaid changes — areas of “strong alignment” with Trump’s administration.
“While redistricting did come up and members were able to ask questions, we spent the bulk of our afternoon discussing issues like energy, immigration and preventing waste and fraud in government,” Bray said.
Gov. Mike Braun has repeatedly said that whether he’ll call a special session for early redistricting depends on the duo and their caucuses. He told reporters Wednesday that he hadn’t spoken with the leaders since their White House visit.
“That didn’t happen too long ago, and we’ll have plenty of time to do that,” Braun said. “And again, it’ll be done in a methodical, not rushed way. We’ll get to the point where they are going to feel comfortable with where they want to go and will act accordingly.”
A day after leading an energetic rally outside the Statehouse, opponents called on Huston and Bray to resist changes.
“There has been great pressure from outside the state on this issue,” Common Cause Indiana Executive Director Julia Vaughn said Wednesday. “We believe it’s pretty obvious that if this decision was left to the legislative leaders themselves, they probably would not entertain an idea of a special session for a partisan power grab.”
She and another voting rights advocate each wielded a stack of 4,139 signatures, gathered over the last week and a half.
“I wish that we could have included some of the comments, because people had a lot of choice words,” Vaughn added. That would’ve doubled the number of pages, however, and “I’m an environmentalist at heart.”
The group knocked first on the door to the Republican side of Indiana’s House, then the Senate. Staffers answered and accepted the pages of signatures promptly.
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