INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s Republican-led House has approved a new congressional map, influenced by former President Donald Trump, moving the measure to the state Senate, where its fate remains uncertain.

The House voted 57-41 to pass the map, designed to divide Indianapolis into four districts, potentially allowing Republicans to secure all nine of Indiana’s congressional seats. While Trump and his allies welcomed this development, the proposal’s success hinges on the Senate, where some Republican senators resist redistricting mid-decade.

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House Democrats criticized the rapid process, with the map introduced only a week ago. In contrast, the existing district map, enacted in 2021, was preceded by extensive public consultations over several months.

State Representative Greg Porter from Indianapolis voiced strong opposition, arguing the map would undermine the influence of Black residents. This change threatens U.S. Representative André Carson, Indiana’s sole Black congressman, who has served Indianapolis for 17 years.

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“What we’re doing today with this proposed legislation is taking away the rights of Black and brown people in Indiana,” Porter said. “It cracks Marion County!”

State under pressure from White House

While redistricting is typically done at the beginning of a new decade with the census, Trump has pushed Republican-led states to redistrict this year to give the GOP an easier path to maintaining its majority in the U.S. House. Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats next November to overcome the GOP’s current margin, and midterm elections typically favor the party opposite the one in power.

Indiana lawmakers have been under increasing pressure from the White House to follow the lead of Republicans in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina, which have all passed new maps in recent months ahead of next year’s midterms. To offset the GOP gains, Democrats in California and Virginia have moved to do the same.

Republicans currently hold seven of Indiana’s nine U.S. House seats.

The author of Indiana’s legislation, Republican state Rep. Ben Smaltz, said on the floor Wednesday that the map and bill language were provided by the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the GOP’s primary redistricting entity that was also involved in drawing Texas’ new map this year. Smaltz said the trust gave Indiana Republicans one option for the statewide map.

Smaltz said Friday the tit-for-tat mid-decade redistricting between Democratic and Republican states may continue for the next several cycles and “may be the new normal.”

Republican Todd Huston, Indiana’s House speaker, took to the floor Friday to defend the redistricting proposal in light of the partisan power balance across the country, saying “we don’t operate in a vacuum.”

The Indiana House vote ups the pressure on Senate Republicans to approve the new map for final passage.

Gov. Mike Braun, a first-term Republican and ally of Trump, praised the House vote Friday.

“I urge the Senate to move quickly next week and adopt this map so Indiana can move forward with confidence,” he said.

Map advances to state Senate

The immediate next hurdle for the new map will come in a Senate committee, which is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon.

The top Republican of the state Senate, Rodric Bray, has previously said there were not enough votes to support redistricting, but it is unknown where the vote count stands now. In the 50-member Senate, Republicans need at least 25 votes to pass the legislation. A 26th tiebreaking vote could come from Republican Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith.

The issue has sharply divided Republicans in the Hoosier state. Senators on both sides of the issue have been subject to threats and swatting attempts in recent weeks.

Trump has also said he will back primary opponents against any GOP senator who opposes redistricting. But half the chamber, including Bray, is not up for reelection until 2028.

The map approved by House Republicans splits the Democratic city of Indianapolis – which currently makes up the entirety of the 7th Congressional District – into four quadrants divided among four rural districts. The new map also groups the cities of East Chicago and Gary with several Republican counties in northern Indiana, potentially ousting Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, who represents the current district in the state’s northwest corner near Chicago.

In the ballooning redistricting battle, the U.S. Supreme Court handed a win to Texas Republicans Thursday by allowing the state to conduct next year’s elections under the new congressional map that favors the GOP and could give the party five more seats.