Indiana Governor Mike Brown called a special session to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries

Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on Monday called on state lawmakers to return to Indianapolis for a special session to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries, escalating the national fight over redistricting midway through the election cycle.

President Donald Trump has intensified pressure on Republican governors to draw new maps that give the party an easier path to maintaining control of the House in the midterm elections. While Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina moved quickly to activate new districts, and Democrats in California sought to fight their redistricting plan, lawmakers in Indiana were much more hesitant.

Read more: As North Carolina’s GOP redistricting plan seeks to pick up another seat for Trump, Democrats are trying to think long term.

Brown called the General Assembly to convene on November 3 for a special session. It is unclear whether enough Republican-majority senators will support the new maps.

The White House held multiple meetings with Indiana lawmakers who held out for months. Legislative leaders kept their cards close as speculation mounted about whether the state known for its more measured approach to Republican politics would heed the redistricting call.

National pressure campaign

Vice President J.D. Vance first met with Brown and legislative leaders in Indianapolis in August, and Trump met privately with state House Speaker Todd Houston and state Senate President Pro Tem Roderick Bray in the Oval Office weeks later. Vance also spoke to state lawmakers who were visiting Washington that day.

Vance returned to Indianapolis on October 10 to meet with the governor and Republican members of the House and Senate.

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A spokesman for Bray said Wednesday that the Indiana state Senate lacks the votes needed to pass a new congressional map, casting doubt on whether the special session will achieve Brown’s goals.

Brown is a staunch Trump ally in a state the president won by 19 percentage points in 2024. But Indiana lawmakers have avoided the national spotlight in recent years — especially after the 2022 special session that resulted in a strict abortion ban. Brown previously said he did not want to call a special session until he was sure lawmakers would support a new map.

“I am calling for a special legislative session to protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and to ensure their fair representation in Congress,” Brown said in a statement.

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While some have expressed support, other Republican state lawmakers have voiced opposition to mid-session redistricting since August, saying it is costly and could backfire politically.

Republican legislative leaders in Indiana praised the existing limits after they adopted them four years ago.

“I believe these maps reflect public feedback and will serve Hoosiers well over the next decade,” Bray said at the time.

Typically, states redraw congressional district boundaries every 10 years after the census ends. Opponents are expected to challenge any new maps in court.

State legislators have the sole power to draw maps in Indiana. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers, meaning Democrats cannot stop a special session by refusing to attend, as their peers in Texas briefly did.

Indiana Senate Democratic Leader Shelley Yoder denounced the special session and threatened legal action over any maps passed by the Legislature.

“This is not democracy. This is despair,” she said in a statement.

Redistribution of balloons

Democrats only need to gain three seats to flip control of the US House of Representatives, and redistricting battles have broken out in multiple states.

Some Democratic states moved to counter Republican gains with new legislative maps. The latter state of Virginia is expected to discuss the issue in a special session starting this week.

Republicans outnumber Democrats in Indiana’s congressional delegation 7-2, limiting the odds of pushing for another seat. But many in the party see it as an opportunity for the Republican Party to represent all nine seats.

The GOP is likely to target Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, a longtime Democratic stronghold that includes Gary and other cities near Chicago in the state’s northwest corner. Republicans view the seat held by third-term Democratic US Representative Frank Marvan as a potential improvement in the last election.

Indiana lawmakers redrew the district’s boundaries to be slightly more favorable toward Republicans in the 2022 election, but they didn’t fully divide them. The new maps were not challenged in court after they were approved in 2021, not even by Democrats and allies who opposed changes that strengthen the GOP’s standing in the suburbs north of Indianapolis.

Marvan still wins re-election in 2022 and easily retains his seat in 2024.

Republicans could also focus on Indiana’s 7th Congressional District, which consists entirely of Marion County and the Democratic stronghold of Indianapolis. But that option would be more controversial, potentially dismembering the state’s largest city and diluting the influence of black voters.