Indiana Redistricting Push Stalls, Utah Has 'Dummymandered’ Map
Indiana Redistricting Push Stalls As Utah Potentially Has ‘Dummymandered’ Map
For the past several months, the Trump administration has been pressuring red-state governors to engage in a rare, mid-decade redistricting process to protect the GOP’s narrow House majority. While Texas and Missouri have successfully implemented new congressional maps, Indiana’s redistricting effort appears to be stalling out, and Utah may have redistricted itself into a “dummymander.”
According to Politico, Vice President JD Vance is visiting Indiana to try and whip the state legislature into beginning a redistricting effort. The trip comes after Indiana’s Republican Gov. Mike Braun told the White House he was concerned that the redistricting push didn’t have support in the state Senate. White House deputy chief of staff James Blair, Political Director Matt Brasseaux, and Republican National Committee chief of staff Michael Ambrosini will be joining Vance in Indiana on Thursday.
Anonymous Republican insiders who spoke with Politico said that Indiana GOP Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray is behind the stalled redistricting effort. They said Bray “has been doing nothing to help the effort along or encourage his members, but has been really sort of hiding behind them, and maybe even subtly or not so subtly pouring cold water on the idea so that he can say he doesn’t have the votes.”
Indiana’s congressional map is already fairly gerrymandered, with Republicans holding seven of the state’s nine seats in the House. A new map would give Republicans total control of the state’s House seats.
Despite frequently telling people not to politicize the issue when it comes to school shootings, Republicans have wasted no time politicizing the death of Charlie Kirk to push through a new electoral map of all things. “They killed Charlie Kirk – the least that we can do is go through a legal process and redistrict Indiana into a nine-to-zero map,” Sen. Jim Banks, the Republican of Indiana, told POLITICO last month.
Utah has successfully seen through its redistricting process, though there are concerns that its attempt at a gerrymandered map may blow up in its face. Utah already implemented a new map in 2021 that carved the traditionally blue Salt Lake City into four separate districts, with Republicans currently holding those four districts. A lawsuit was filed against that map, with a judge ordering the state legislature to redraw the map. The new map drafted by Utah’s Republican state legislature has split Salt Lake City into two districts.
From the New York Times:
By doing it this way, rather than grouping most of Salt Lake City into one Democratic stronghold and creating three safely Republican seats, Republicans have an opportunity to maintain control of all four House seats next year.
But they have also risked creating a so-called dummymander – a gerrymandered map that backfires against the party it’s intended to favor. Republicans drew two light-red districts – one more competitive than the other – that could both potentially flip toward Democrats in a year that strongly favors them.
Along with two safe Republican seats, the new map, which must still be signed by Gov. Spencer Cox and approved by a judge, creates one district that Trump won by about seven percentage points last year, and another district that Trump won by about 2 points.
President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Republican-led states to begin rare, mid-decade redistricting efforts to protect the GOP’s narrow House majority has seen Texas and Missouri successfully implement new congressional maps that potentially give them a combined total of seven more seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. It’s worth noting that lawsuits have been filed against the Texas map by voting rights groups alleging that the map is racially gerrymandered.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the “Election Rigging Response Act” in August to combat the Texas redistricting effort. A special election will be held in California on Nov. 4, where voters will determine whether control of the state’s congressional maps remains with an independent redistricting committee or goes to the state legislature through 2030. Should voters choose to give the state legislature control, Gov. Newsom intends to implement a map that would neutralize Texas’ gains.
If the lawsuits in Texas succeed, and California’s voters approve a new map, the map could drastically change for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms.
SEE ALSO:
President Trump Eyes Florida And Indiana In Redistricting Push
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Bill Launching Redistricting Effort
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe Sets Special Session For Redistricting
Texas Democrats Will Return To State After Special Session Ends
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom Counters Texas Redistricting Effort With One Of His Own
Redistricting: Majority Black Voting Maps Rejected In Louisiana
Critics Call Texas Governor’s New Congressional Map Gerrymandering
US Senator John Cornyn, FBI Team Up To Hunt Texas Democrats
Texas State Dems Break Quorum To Prevent Redistricting Vote
Gov. Greg Abbott Orders Arrest Of Texas Democrats
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Sues To Remove Democratic Rep In Redistricting Fight
Racial Gerrymandering Lawsuit Filed Over Texas Voting Map
Indiana Redistricting Push Stalls As Utah Potentially Has ‘Dummymandered’ Map was originally published on newsone.com
