Indiana House passes vote for new congressional districts. Graphic by Lily O’Connor.
OLLIE FITZGERALD | ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR | ofitzgerald@butler.edu
After the Nov. 14 decision by Indiana House Republicans not to meet regarding congressional redistricting and various threats to Republican officials who have spoken out, the state House met and passed the newly drawn congressional maps. The decision now goes to the Indiana Senate.
If passed, the new map will effectively gerrymander District 7 — which mainly includes Indianapolis and Marion County — as well as District 1, which lies closest to Chicago. Those two districts were the only districts in Indiana that held Democratic congressional seats.
It is uncommon for redistricting to happen in a non-census year, but after considerable pressure from the Trump administration and violent threats to Indiana government officials, many of the Republican holdouts released conceding statements.
Senator Kyle Walker (Rep.) announced on Dec. 3 that he would not be seeking reelection, alongside Eric Bassler (Rep.) and Greg Walker (Rep.), who have also spoken against the redistricting. In a social media post on Nov. 30, Senator Jane Leising (Rep.) stated that she had been threatened with a pipe bomb after opposing redistricting, but that she would continue to “not cave.”
Indiana is not the only state voting on redistricting during a non-census year, with Texas redrawing maps over the summer, and California voting “yes” on Prop 50 in November. The redistricting attempts have drawn lawsuits in both states, but the Supreme Court approved the Texas maps that will give an advantage to the GOP on Thursday.
The new Indiana map would split Indianapolis into five different districts, reaching far from the central location of the city.
In a press release from the Indiana House Democrats, State Rep. Carey Hamilton (Dem.) stated, “If this map becomes law, within four miles of my house in Indianapolis, I will be able to stand in 5 congressional districts. That speaks to how this map would attempt to deny the most economically vibrant and diverse city in our state representation in Congress.”
The Butler Collegian will continue to report on this story as it develops.
