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Indiana lawmakers will return to the Statehouse next week to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map, reviving a volatile redistricting push backed aggressively by President Donald Trump despite earlier indications that Senate Republicans lacked the votes to move forward.
The announcement came Tuesday as State House Speaker Todd Huston said the House would reconvene Monday and consider “all legislative business, including redrawing the state’s congressional map.” Huston said the early session start would allow lawmakers to “complete our legislative business by the end of February.”
Shortly afterward, Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray confirmed the Senate would return Dec. 8 to review any proposal approved by the House. Bray acknowledged the political tension around the effort, saying the issue “has received a lot of attention and is causing strife here in our state.”
“The Senate will meet and make a final decision that week on any redistricting proposal sent from the House,” Bray said.
Pressure campaign from Trump
Trump has repeatedly criticized Indiana Republican leaders for not advancing a new congressional map that could help the GOP gain additional House seats in the 2026 midterms. He praised Tuesday’s developments on Truth Social, calling redistricting “a very important initiative.”
“Republicans must do what is necessary to stop the destruction of our Country by these people who hate America,” Trump wrote.
But Bray said earlier this month that Senate Republicans remained short of the votes needed to approve a midcycle map sought by Trump and Gov. Mike Braun, prompting Trump to accuse Bray of “stupidity” and threaten to support primary challenges against him and others.
Braun echoed the former president, saying he would support efforts to “recruit, endorse, and finance” challengers to any GOP senators who refuse to advance a new map.
The political pressure has been accompanied by rising tension inside the state. State Sen. Greg Goode — one of the Republicans targeted in Trump’s push — was the victim of a swatting incident last week, though authorities have not confirmed whether the incident was politically motivated.
A widening national trend
Indiana’s fight is unfolding as other states engage in aggressive midcycle redistricting battles ahead of the 2026 elections. Texas set off the trend in August when its Republican-led Legislature approved a new congressional map, prompting a Supreme Court review. Republican majorities in Missouri and North Carolina have also enacted new maps designed to expand GOP power.
Meanwhile, in California, the Justice Department recently joined a Republican-backed lawsuit challenging a Democratic-drawn map approved by voters this month — a rare instance of bipartisan legal alignment in the usually partisan struggle over congressional boundaries.
Indiana lawmakers face a similar crosscurrent as they prepare for what could be a contentious December session, with internal GOP divisions, national scrutiny, and a direct pressure campaign from a former president converging on the Statehouse.
