Vice President JD Vance heads to Indianapolis to talk redistricting; U.S. Rep Frank Mrvan's seat likely under attack

Chicago Tribune

5 days ago

As Vice President JD Vance heads to Indianapolis Thursday to discuss redistricting with Gov. Mike Braun, U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan said potential redistricting of Indiana's First Congressional District would silence the voices of his constituents.
'The Trump administration has recognized that their harmful policies to benefit wealthy elites at the expense of working families are wildly unpopular,' Mrvan, D-Highland, said in a statement issued Tuesday night.
Braun told reporters Tuesday that Vance will visit Indianapolis Thursday to discuss many topics, including possible redistricting.
'Whatever we discuss there, and if that topic comes up, it's exploratory,' Braun said. 'There's been no commitments made.'
House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, and Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, did not respond to requests for comment about a potential special session to address redistricting.
Redistricting occurs every 10 years following the release of census data. But the Trump administration has been pressuring states, most notably Texas, to redistrict ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Texas Democrats on Monday prevented their state's House of Representatives from moving forward with a special session to vote on a redrawn Congressional map. After the Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members who are absent from their seats. Democrats counter that Abbott is using 'smoke and mirrors' to assert legal authority he does not have.
The Texas House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent Democrats and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and arrest them, but lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities.
Indiana has nine Congressional districts, with seven districts represented by Republicans and two represented by Democrats.
Of the two Democratic seats, the First Congressional District seat – which Mrvan has held since 2021 – is a 'realistic' target for redistricting because it's a larger district compared to the Seventh District, which encompasses Indianapolis, said Julia Vaughn, the executive director of Common Cause Indiana, a grassroots, nonpartisan organization with active independent redistricting commission campaigns in the state.
'The target would be on Northwest Indiana, but I think the Congress people representing those districts that border the First Congressional District will be very nervous because they'll have to take Republican voters from their districts and put them in the First,' Vaughn said.
But Vaughn said redistricting the First District poses the risk of racial gerrymandering, which is the illegal packing of communities of color to preordain election outcomes. If racial gerrymandering were to occur, it would face legal action, she said.
Aaron Dusso, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University Indianapolis, said if the Seventh District was considered for redistricting, legislators could use 'the pizza method,' which would slice Democratic portions of Marion County into Republican districts to break up Democratic support.
The First Congressional District remains Indiana's most competitive seat. In 2022, Mrvan won nearly 53% of the vote against Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green. In 2024, Mrvan saw a small increase in the number of votes to just over 53% when he won against Republican Randy Niemeyer.
In Indiana, Article 4, Section 5 of the state's constitution states that the General Assembly elected during the year in which a federal decennial census is taken shall fix by law the number of Senators and Representatives and apportion them among districts according to the number of inhabitants in each district, as revealed by that federal decennial census. The territory in each district shall be contiguous.
Mrvan said the Trump administration's 'only hope to maintain control' in Congress is to force the state legislature to 'violate' the Indiana Constitution and undergo a mid-decade redistricting.
'It is no surprise that some believe redistricting is the only option to cling to power when they know the American people are rejecting the damage done by the House Republican Majority,' Mrvan said.
For example, Mrvan said the reconciliation law hurts healthcare providers and limits healthcare coverage 'all to fund massive tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and special interests.'
It would be 'reprehensible to call in the Indiana General Assembly for a special session on redistricting,' Mrvan said. The legislature should be focused on issues that impact Hoosiers, he said, like restoring state funds for local police departments.
In states where redistricting is controlled by state legislatures, like in Indiana, it's common for the majority party to engage in gerrymandering, which is when Congressional and state legislative maps are drawn in a way to benefit the majority party, Dusso said.
Dusso said he was surprised to hear that Vance is coming to Indiana to talk about redistricting because Indiana is already gerrymandered in Republicans' favor, with Democrats packed into two Congressional districts and the remaining seven in safe Republican districts.
'There is a danger involved in this, too, because you're going to have to put Democratic voters, solidly Democratic voters, into a lot of different Congressional districts. If you have a swing election coming here in 2026, you could end up losing some of these districts, which you would've won easily, but then you monkeyed around with these districts,' Dusso said.
With California officials signaling they will pursue redistricting as well, Dusso said Democrats there have more options for creating new seats because California has an independent commission in charge of redistricting.
Republican-led states are heavily gerrymandered, Dusso said, so it's likely national leaders are looking at Texas to create a new seat because it's a large state. But Indiana, Dusso said, is already gerrymandered in Republicans' favor.
State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster, joined Texas Democrats in Boston on Wednesday to show his colleagues support and call attention to gerrymandering.
'Although I am in Boston standing with Texas Democrats, this fight has now reached our doorstep,' Andrade said. 'This is pure gerrymandering disguised as redistricting. It is a blatant power grab from the national level that has trickled down into Indiana and Hoosiers don't want it.'
Andrade said redrawing Indiana's Congressional maps would take away voters' voices.
'This will take power away from the people,' Andrade said. 'Instead of voters choosing their representatives, the party in power will choose its voters. That was never how our democracy was intended to work.'
Indiana shouldn't enter the national fight over redistricting Congressional seats, Vaughn said.
'Governor Braun doesn't work for the White House. He doesn't work for JD Vance. He works for Hoosiers, and I have not heard one single Hoosier say, 'Let's go back and revisit redistricting,'' Vaughn said.