Vance heads to red state as redistricting efforts heat up in Texas, nationwide
"Vice President Vance will visit Indianapolis on Thursday, where he will be headlining an RNC fundraiser," Vance communications director William Martin told Fox News Digital ahead of the trip. "He will also meet with Governor Braun and other state officials to discuss a variety of issues."
Indiana is a Republican stronghold, with the GOP controlling the office of the governor and both chambers of the state legislature. Republicans control seven of the nine House seats, with Republicans floating a redistricting effort that could benefit the party and drive out at least one of the blue seats.
Braun told the media Tuesday from the Indiana Statehouse that there have been no commitments made regarding potential redistricting efforts in the state. Other states are in the midst of their own redistricting effort, most notably Texas, which was marred with controversy when dozens of state Democrats fled the state to prevent the quorum needed to vote on new congressional maps.
"Whatever we discuss there, if that topic comes up, is exploratory," he told the media when asked whether he would call a special session to redistrict the state ahead of the 2026 midterms, Politico reported. "So there's been no commitments made other than that."
"Folks raising the most Cain about it are the ones that have gerrymandered their own states, where it looks like maybe the tentacles of an octopus," he added. "We'll see what happens."
Indiana redistricts every 10 years based on new Census data. The Hoosier state previously updated its congressional district lines in 2020.
State laws appear murky whether Indiana lawmakers could legal redistrict ahead of scheduling. A 1995 nonbinding opinion from the state attorney general's office could not redistrict mid-cycle, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
Braun continued in his comments to the media on Tuesday that potentially redistricting outside the 10-year cycle is "not going to be a calm process" if such an effort is endeavored.
The Republican Party has launched a broader national effort to keep control of its razor-thin House majority in the midterms, when the party that holds control of the White House typically faces an uphill battle to retain and secure seats.
President Donald Trump has encouraged the redistricting, including remarking on Tuesday that efforts to redistrict in Texas could lead to the GOP picking up five seats.
"In California, it's all gerrymandered," Trump said during an interview with CNBC Tuesday. "And we have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats."
Dozens of Texas Democrats fled the Lone Star state over the weekend, ahead of Monday, when the Republican-dominated state legislature was set to vote on the new redistricting maps. The Texas House of Representatives cannot proceed with legislative activity without a quorum.
A quorum was not reached on Monday or Tuesday.
Texas Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows signed arrest warrants for the absent Democrats Monday, following the state House approving of such warrants and Gov. Greg Abbott calling on the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest the "delinquent Texas House Democrats."
None of the absent Texas Democrats had been arrested as of Wednesday afternoon. Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn called on the FBI on Tuesday to investigate "potential CRIMINAL acts, including bribery, and to hold legislators accountable who have fled the state in a shameful attempt to stall the legislative process in the Texas House."
Democratic governors, such as Illinois' JB Pritzker and New York's Kathy Hochul, have since opened their proverbial doors to the Texas Democrats who fled the Lone Star State.
"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that they're welcome here, that they have the ability to stay as long as they need to and want to," Pritzker said on Sunday as the lawmakers left Texas for Illinois.
Conservatives and other critics have lambasted the Democrats' political stunt, including arguing the Democratic Party has long leveraged gerrymandering to benefit its party.
"The idea that Texas Democrats would flee to Illinois, a state where Dems have abused gerrymandering to comical levels, is perfection," Tom Bevan, the RealClearPolitics co-founder and president, wrote on X this week.
"To protest 'partisan gerrymandering' Texas Democrats are fleeing to…Illinois," Republican Missouri Senator Eric Scmitt wrote on X. "You can't make this up."
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