(The Center Square) – Another vehicle will be needed for Indiana to increase Republican representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Thursday it became the first Republican trifecta state failing to create a new congressional map capable in the 2026 midterms of adding seats to the party’s majority in the House.
Ten Democrats in the Indiana Senate were joined by 21 Republicans rejecting a measure passed in the state House. Indiana has a 7-2 Republican edge in the U.S. House.
Across the country, Republicans and Democrats have each voluntarily considered changing maps in the middle of the decade in advance of the election cycle knowing history favors the party in the White House losing congressional seats at the midterms. The goal is gaining majority of the U.S. House; Republicans have it 220-213 today, with two vacancies previously held by Democrats.
Indiana’s House Bill 1032, for now, is dead in this legislative session. The issue, however, could resurface in another form.
Trifecta in government leadership means the party is in the governor’s office and majorities in each chamber of the Legislature.
Voluntary congressional map redraws potentially impacting the 2026 midterms are at various stages in California, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia and Louisiana.
The latter two are in ongoing litigation; Texas changes have survived a U.S. Supreme Court stop.
Ohio’s is required by state law. Missouri’s change could meet a veto referendum challenge. California’s voters approved Proposition 50, a measure estimated to help California’s already 43-9 Democrats in representation to the U.S. House flip five seats to make it 48-4.
Indiana state Sen. Rod Bray, president pro tempore of the chamber, has won seven terms. Second-term Republican President Donald Trump, after Thursday’s vote, hinted a primary is likely for him.
Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, in a statement said he was the lone Republican lawmaker to hold a listening session. He said three concerns were clear: splitting Wabash Valley counties into two congressional districts; Clay County going into a district with Indianapolis and central Indiana suburbs; and a map from 2021 led by Sen. Jon Ford being rendered nullified.
The latter didn’t face lawsuits, he pointed out.
“All of these concerns remind me of the wisdom of our Founding Fathers,” Goode said. “They designed a 10-year census to guide fair representation, entrusting states with the responsibility to update their districts to match shifting populations. Indiana did this just four years ago. The map produced was celebrated by legislative leadership, and Indiana again served as a national model for getting things right through Hoosier common sense.”
Utah’s potential new map is not a voluntary exercise. A state court ruled the 2021 map unconstitutional. An alternative, under appeal, could lead to early retirements or primaries for those already in Congress.
Utah has four House members, all in the Republican Party.
