Vice President JD Vance spent several hours in the Hoosier State Thursday trying to build support for a new redistricting, but Gov. Mike Braun and legislative leaders haven’t jumped on board yet.
The visit came amid a tussle in Republican-held Texas over new maps — and threats from Democrat-run states to retaliate.
Braun told reporters the Statehouse meeting went “pretty good” and that “we covered a wide array of topics.” He confirmed that at least part of the discussion was about redistricting, specifically.
When asked if state and federal officials came to any agreement, the governor said only that “we listened.”
I appreciated the opportunity to hear from the Vice President on a variety of issues, which we will continue to talk through in the days ahead.Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville
House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray, both Republicans, were also present, but neither answered questions after the meeting.
Instead, each released a brief written statement.
Huston said he appreciated the chance to meet with Vance and “share many of the successes we’re experiencing in Indiana.” He added that the group “had a meaningful discussion” and would continue conversations with the Trump administration.
State lawmakers redraw districts after each decennial census, as per the Indiana Constitution. They last did so in 2021. Congressional Republicans have a 7-2 advantage.
Bray called the visit “an honor” and described the meeting as “productive,” noting that several topics important to Indiana were discussed.
“I appreciated the opportunity to hear from the Vice President on a variety of issues, which we will continue to talk through in the days ahead,” Bray said.
A move in Indiana would likely focus on the First District in northwest Indiana, which is held by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, a Democrat.
Mrvan, in a separate afternoon press conference, accused the Trump administration of not meeting the needs of his district, specifically in the sale of U.S. Steel to Japanese-based Nippon Steel.
“They are afraid of checks and balances, and they are afraid that they know that their policies have hurt individuals,” said Mrvan, describing the recent budget law as one that gave tax breaks to the wealthy and cut Medicaid.
“We wouldn’t be in this position if they weren’t afraid that they cut health care access to millions of Hoosiers. We wouldn’t be in this position if tariffs didn’t cause a lag in manufacturing, and we wouldn’t be in this position if energy costs weren’t rising 20%,” he continued.
He also said he believed “that this is a done deal,” but that bending to Trump “isn’t going to increase (Braun’s) prospect of being president of the United States.”
During the Vance visit, several hundred Hoosiers, many of them angry and cursing, rallied at the Indiana Statehouse to protest against the proposal.
Julia Vaughn, the executive director of Common Cause Indiana, vowed to challenge any maps that came from a special session.
“We will see you in court, Gov. Braun,” said Vaughn, whose organization was heavily involved in the last redistricting session in 2021. She called on the crowd to return to the statehouse tenfold if a special session was called, noting that her organization gave Indiana’s maps a ‘D’ grade.
“… Leave our congressional maps alone!”
Pushback at the statehouse
Vance arrived at the Indiana Statehouse shortly before 10:30 a.m. and spent just shy of an hour in Braun’s office.
After the meeting — and before heading back to the nation’s capital — the vice president headlined a national Republican fundraising event held just blocks away in downtown Indianapolis.
All the while, those opposed to redistricting staged an hours-long sit-in at the statehouse.
“This is clearly a power grab,” said Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis. “This is simply an attempt by the President to stay in power forever.”
Redistricting efforts in Texas, where President Donald Trump said Republicans were “entitled” to more seats, have stalled after Democrats fled the state.
With razor-thin margins in the U.S. House of Representatives, netting more GOP-controlled seats in the 2026 midterm would protect Trump’s priorities in the second half of his term.
The two seats held by Democrats are in Indianapolis and in the northwestern part of the state.
In order to redistrict, Braun would have to call a special session – which comes at a cost. A two-week special session in 2022 cost $240,000.
“At a time where there’s been unprecedented squeeze on Hoosiers pocketbooks, it is unconscionable to think that we’re going to add to some people’s pocketbooks by calling a special session,” said Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington.
Yoder is the state Senate minority leader.
U.S. Rep. André Carson, of the 7th Congressional District, similarly panned any redistricting effort, saying it would disenfranchise Hoosiers. He noted that this proposal came the same week that the monumental Voting Rights Act became law 60 years ago.
“This is a civil rights issue; this is about our right to free speech; this is about our right to vote,” said Carson. “Our fighting for voting rights is not the past. It isn’t in the future. It’s right now.”
One of Mrvan’s constituents, Jillian Schranz, came from northwestern Indiana Thursday to protest against the proposed redistricting.
“I think gerrymandering is not new. Democrats do it; Republicans do it,” Schranz said. “But the fact that we’re talking about a special session and not waiting for census data is really alarming.”
She said she’d heard about ongoing budget concerns directly from her General Assembly lawmakers, Sen. Dan Dernulc and Rep. Hal Slager. She emailed both Republican men to ask for their perspective on redistricting.
“It would be hypocritical for Indiana Republicans to call the special session,” Schranz concluded.
Beth McClellan, from the north side of Indianapolis, arrived at the state capitol building shortly before 9 a.m. and said she’s also concerned about a possible re-draw of Indiana’s 5th District, which has become increasingly competitive after years of Republican dominance.
“The idea of redrawing our districts … it’s ludicrous, it’s bad optics and it’s a bad idea,” she said. “We’re a red state — already with Republican-dominated seats here and in Washington. … Our elected officials should be focused on issues, not playing around with maps.”
Will redistricting happen?
Pete Seat, a longtime Indiana Republican strategist and national political commentator, said he senses a lot of hesitancy among GOP leaders in Indiana.
He noted there is an “element of Hoosier hospitality involved and an open ear, but maybe not an open mind.”
Seat said with Republican supermajorities controlling both the House and Senate it would not be a heavy lift. But it would go against two decades of messaging that Indiana handles its map-drawing process the right way.
“We take a lot of pride in our map and how we draw our districts and the thought put behind it and maintaining communities of interest and respecting existing boundaries,” he told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “Do you really want to go back on that?”
The former White House spokesman said he doesn’t know if there is compelling data pointing to the need for a mid-decade redistricting.
“But I mean, look, we live in a transparent political environment with Donald Trump at the helm, and I think the rationale would be naked politics,” he said. “Not a lot of people hide from that these days, ‘yeah we want more seats to be in the U.S. House of Representatives.’ So what?”
Seat doesn’t think there would be a political cost to Indiana Republicans related to backlash against them for drawing maps early. But he noted there could be a cost based on how the new boundaries line up.
“There’s going to be some lines that shift. How does that impact the incumbents or future candidates in those newly drawn districts? There’s a ripple effect,” he said.
Seat discounted the cost of a special session as being a factor in any decision.
“If this is something you feel needs to be done, the cost of it is relative peanuts to other other issues,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
