(INDIANAPOLIS) –Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun announced on Monday that he will call for a special legislative session to begin next week that will include considering redrawing Indiana’s congressional map — drawing the state more deeply into the mid-cycle redistricting battle occurring across the country.
“I am calling a special legislative session to protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair,” Braun wrote in a statement.
The special session — which is set to begin Monday, Nov. 3 — will also deal with tax issues, according to Braun.
The White House has openly pushed for Indiana, which currently has seven Republican and two Democratic members of the U.S. House, to redraw its congressional map. Vice President JD Vance has visited the state twice in recent months for discussions with state lawmakers and figures.
As of Monday, three states have finished redrawing their congressional maps: Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. Analysts believe that Republicans stand to gain up to seven congressional seats in these redrawn maps — significant changes in a Congress with a razor-thin Republican majority.
A spokesperson for Republican state Sen. Rodric Bray, the Senate President pro tempore, told ABC News on Wednesday, “the votes aren’t there for redistricting.”
President Donald Trump spoke with Republican state legislators from Indiana on Friday about redistricting.
Braun later indicated that he’s still confident to get support for “fair representation.”
“I am still having positive conversations with members of the legislature. I am confident the majority of Indiana Statehouse Republicans will support efforts to ensure fair representation in congress for every Hoosier,” Braun wrote on X on Wednesday.
His lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith — who is the state Senate’s president — went further in a statement: “I am calling on my Republican colleagues in the Indiana Senate to find your backbone, to remember who sent you here, and to reclaim Indiana’s rightful voice in Congress by drawing a 9-0 map.”
President of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee John Bisognano on Monday slammed Braun’s move.
“Governor Braun clearly called this special session solely because he got orders from Washington,” Bisognano said in a statement. “Hoosiers do not want a mid-decade gerrymander. Indiana legislators now have a choice: stand up for their constituents by rejecting a mid-decade gerrymander or cave to the White House by undermining the voting rights of their constituents.”
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